Life Without You
by Enchanted Daisy
Summary: On the eve of Casey's wedding, Derek shows up for the first time in ten years, bringing with him the memories of their passionate affair during their high school years....Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

…

**November 11, 2018**

Casey McDonald stared at herself for a long time in the mirror when she woke up that morning. Her last full day of being an engaged woman. Tomorrow…she would be married, and a gold band would sit on top of the diamond and platinum engagement ring.

She sighed, then dressed. Her family was waiting for her downstairs, she knew, everyone plus Michael …but less Derek. Lizzie would be running around, checking last minute details; George and Mike would probably be amiably discussing sports, or maybe George would be giving Michael advice on how to be a husband. Her mother would most likely follow Lizzie and remind her of everything they've forgotten, and Marti would be sitting calmly eating her breakfast while reading whatever latest bestseller she'd brought.

Casey smiled, patted the hair which she'd kept long so that it lay at least a little smoother, and gave herself a last look in the mirror. She loved her family and was so glad that Michael DiMartino meshed so well with them and got along with everyone. Well, so far as she knew, since Michael had never met Derek—

_Casey, you idiot!_ she chastised herself. _Tomorrow is your _wedding day _and all you can think about is Derek? _

She quickly made her way downstairs, where the smell of fresh pancakes greeted her. "Mmm, smells good," she murmured, as Michael pulled her into a good-morning kiss. It was a chaste, quick gesture and Nora and George smiled their approval.

"And I used to think you would _never_ get married, Casey," Nora said teasingly, placing a full plate of pancakes in front of her eldest daughter and smiling at her fondly. "You never had any boyfriends through high school and even college—I'm glad you met Mike in law school, at least."

"Mo-_om_," Casey mock-complained through a mouthful of pancake. Michael laughed good-naturedly and placed his strong large hand on top of Casey's head.

"I'm glad too, Nora," Michael replied. There was a collective, teasing "awwww" from the assembled clan members and Casey looked down, slightly abashed. Michael…Michael was her best friend, and he was so smart and handsome, and Casey just got the feeling that Michael—

Wait…no she didn't. Because the only person who ever really _knew _and _understood_ Casey…was Derek. _But he's not here_, Casey reminded herself sadly, _and you couldn't ask for a more perfect person than Michael_. _Except you're not in love with him._

Not that she didn't _love_ him, of course. She cared for him so deeply and so strongly…but she couldn't feel that she was in love with him. She cared for him like … a best friend.

But how could she say no to Michael, when he'd proposed so romantically? And when she knew that he truly loved her and would take care of her? She would have a happy life with him. But there would always be something…missing.

And how, how in the world would she ever have been able to pull off marying Derek Venturi, her stepbrother?

"Darling, are you all right?" Michael asked, the concern evident in his voice, as he placed his hand on her forehead. "I hope you're not sick…you've been spacey lately." He peered at her with a slight line etched between his perfect green eyes.

Casey attempted what she hoped was a reassuring smile but really came out more of a grimace. "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine, just some…just pre-wedding jitters…."

Michael nodded understandingly. "Everything will be wonderful," he told her softly, in his strong tenor voice. Casey knew he could bend that voice to convince judge and jury alike. "Any wedding that makes you my wife would be perfect," he said, looking at her earnestly, his face so close to hers that she could smell his aftershave, his green eyes focused on her as though she were the only person in the world.

He loved her so much. Casey felt her heart break a little every time he talked about them together, about their future life together, or about how much he loved her. Was it unfair to him that she couldn't feel for him that deeply? Was she making a huge mistake?

_No,_ Casey told herself firmly, once Michael had left her. _Michael will always take care of me and we will have a wonderful family together and when he promises to hold me until death I know he will. _

…

Casey had managed to wrangle a few days off from the large firm she practiced in, to prepare both before and after the wedding. Now, in typical Casey style, she was fretting about every last detail—as she had a perfect right to do—her hair coming down messily out of its high ponytail as she ran her hands through it over and over.

She checked the guest list, confirmed with the caterers, double-checked on the cake, tried on her wedding gown one more time, called the salon to make sure she was scheduled, and in general tried to prevent herself from breaking down completely.

"Casey, relax," Nora said in slight alarm, as she saw Casey's slightly crazed eyes and messy hair. How well Nora remembered that expression from Casey's high school years, her brief visits home from Stanford, and later on from Yale. It was the look that signalled that Casey was teetering the edge between sanity and snapping. And the very last thing that anyone wanted on her wedding day was to be a nervous wreck. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

Casey sighed impatiently. Didn't anyone understand that she'd been working her whole life to be perfect, so why should her wedidng day be any different? "I know, I know, I'm just double-checking some things—"

Nora snorted. "I think 'double-checking' is a lie, it must be the fifteenth time you called the salon…"

"Well, you never know," Casey replied defensively. Her mother arched an eyebrow at her and Casey let out a long breath. "Sorry, Mom," she said, flopping down on the couch next to Nora. She smiled a little sheepishly. "You know how I can get…"

"Yes, I do," Nora said fondly, "but you seem much better."

Casey was about to reply before the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Casey said, jumping up. The hardwood floor felt cold against her bare feet and her sweatpants exposed the mereset inch of flat stomach and hipbone. She opened the door seconds after the impatient person outside had rung the bell again.

Her gaze travelled up: nice black dress shoes, professional black pants, a checked Ralph Lauren shirt over a broad chest, a strong jaw, hazel eyes, a renegade lock of red-brown hair.

"Hey Case. Long time, no see." A pleasant, smooth voice.

"Why, Derek! What a pleasant surprise!" Nora exclaimed from over Casey's frozen shoulder.

…

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Nora prompted her daughter, as Casey continued to stare mutely at the stepbrother she hadn't seen in over seven years.

"C-come in," Casey stammered out, stepping back slightly as Derek stepped in, setting down the duffel bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder. He bent to give Nora a hug, even kissing her on the cheek.

"This is certainly a surprise," Nora said frankly, "although I can't say we're not pleased to have you."

Derek smiled. "How could I miss my dear stepsister's wedding?" he said, turning to the young woman in question. He hugged Casey lightly (and didn't kiss her), not holding her close or even exerting any real pressure on her back.

Casey remained mute, as Derek released her and gave his old house an appraising look. "You look great, Nora, and so does this place," he said fondly. "Ah, really brings back old memories, doesn't it, Casey?" he continued pointedly.

"Perhaps if you hadn't been such a stranger these past few years, you would've had more new memories," said Nora in a mock-reprimand, trying to fill the odd, awkward hole left by Casey. "We've missed you , Derek—everyone will be so glad to see you. Are you hungry? Let me go get you something to eat, you must be starving…."

She left, leaving Derek and Casey alone in the living room.

The warm pleasantness of Derek's manner seemed to have left with Nora; Casey swore she could feel the already chilly temperature drop by ten degrees. Not that she wasn't contributing to it.

"What are you doing here, Derek?" she asked in a low voice, somewhere between anger, nervousness, and anxiety.

"Like I said," he replied, looking right at her, "how could I miss my _dear_ stepsister's wedding?"

"What happened to your '_business trip_' to Osaka?" Casey demanded, her whisper deciding on anger.

Derek shrugged. "I made someone else go," he said.

Casey and Derek were still staring daggers at each other when Nora came back with a bowl of soup and some crackers. "Well, glad to see you two are back to normal," she remarked, setting the food on the table. "I was getting worried that one or the other of you had taken leave of their senses."

Both the twenty-six year olds were aware that this was supposed to be a joke, but neither could manage more than an unconvincing, weak chuckle. Derek sat down to his soup without another word or look at Casey, who turned to her mother and told her that she had other, more important things to do. Casey stalked off, emotions roiling in her chest.

This was most definitely _not _according to plan.

…

Casey blushed to remember that it was only this morning that Derek had intruded into her thoughts…only a few short hours ago that she was missing him with an ache so sharp she felt as though her heart were being torn to ribbons. Just a few hours ago that she had been wishing for him, imagining how he must look like now.

And he had come, answering the most secret wish of her soul, and yet their reunion was arctic.

…

Why had he even come back, in the first place? _"I've been busy…"_ Well, so had Casey, but she had managed to make it home for a few holidays a year.

Derek the slacker for the first seventeen years of his life had entered university at the age of eighteen with no expectations, even of graduating. And yet to the surprise of everyone (except maybe himself and Casey) he threw himself into his studies. He took courses over the summer, volunteered to stay on campus, played hockey for his uni team. When he graduated first in his major everyone he knew had been shocked.

Derek hadn't been insulted, exactly; everyone had always expected him, the 'cool one,' to not be very bright or diligent or dedicated to his schoolwork. Casey, on the other hand, was the 'smart one,' and didn't everybody just _love_ her? But Derek had shown them all—his friends, his family, his teachers—that he could do it.

But of course Casey had to go and show him up. Going to one of the most presitigious schools in the States! Graduating at the top of her class with honors! Accepted into every top law school in the US—and attending one! Derek had occasionally called home during his undergraduate years, and George and Nora had been proud of him when he went to York University, the best business school in Canada—but how could that compare to Casey at Yale?

He had been home only twice in the past ten years.

…

There was an awkward family dinner later that evening—awkard for Casey and Derek, at least. Everybody else was overjoyed to see Derek. He was surprised at how much everyone had _grown_. Marti was now seventeen, tall and slender. Edwin's hair was still dark and curly although it rested on a head now quite a few feet farther from the ground. Lizzie bore a strong resemblance to Casey now, although Nora still figured prominently into her facial features.

"You should've called," George remarked over a simple dinner. Potato was speared onto his fork. "Although I must say you look terrific, son."

"Yeah, Smerek!" Marti agreed. The old nickname brought a slight smile to Derek's face…although it also brought up memories that were better buried.

"You never come home," Edwin complained, scrutinizing his older brother.

"I've been busy, little bro," said Derek. And he _had _been busy.

Busy trying to avoid coming back home, that is.

"So, um, how's Alberta?" Nora asked politely, once more filling the gap.

Derek looked up and smiled. To one who might know him better than Nora it was a smile that was icy and civil at the same time, although Nora and almost everyone else only saw that it was civil. "Terrific." He cut a small piece off his chicken and brought it to his mouth using his left hand. Casey noticed the polite bite, the proper table manners, and the complete casualness with which he did so.

"Not as great as Ontario, though, I'm sure," said George.

"That's a not-so-obvious hint for you to come back _here_ more often," Lizzie explained.

"Casey, you've been awfully quiet," Nora commented. The abrupt change in topic caused Casey to look up from the plate off which she'd barely eaten and everyone else to look at her sharply.

She managed a weak smile. "Just…just nervous for the wedding, I guess," she replied, dropping her eyes back to her plate. She placed her fork carefully across her untouched food. "I think I'm heading upstairs now," she announced, and got up.

…

After dinner was finished, Derek went upstairs to find Casey in her old room. He shut the door behind him. Casey didn't say a word to him.

"Don't give me the silent treatment, Casey," Derek ordered, coming up to sit close to her and speaking in a low voice. "I don't deserve it."

"It's not as though I called you up and forced you to come back," Casey snapped, finally talking and looking at him. "Why are you even here, Derek?" This last question was not so much irritated as pleading, confused, almost hurt.

"You know why, Casey," Derek responded, leaning in still further. Her blue eyes were slightly wider, and trembling…_just as they did when I first kissed her_, he thought. "Don't tell me you don't know why I'm here."

"Fine then, I won't tell you," she said, breaking their gaze.

"God Casey, this isn't a joke!" said Derek, his voice louder now. "I'm here because I _know_ that you're making the biggest mistake of your life by marrying _him_ tomorrow."

Casey let out a disbeleiving laugh. "You '_know'_? How can you be so arrogant? How can you think you can tell me what to do?"

"It's not just me—I know, but you know too, Casey…or should I call you Catherine Earnshaw?"

………………

**August 20th, 2018 **

"This is as far as we can go together," Casey said softly. It was just her and Derek, and her overnight case, in front of the security checkpoint at Ottawa International.

"No, Casey," Derek replied, taking her shoulders gently, looking straight into her eyes. "I will go with you forever. To the ends of the earth."

Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears now, and their sad beauty was breaking Derek's heart as much as he knew her's was breaking too. He bent to kiss her, deeply, passionately, not caring who saw, both of them knowing this would be their last kiss in a very long time.

"God I'm going to miss you so much," he whispered into her ear, hugging her fiercely. She didn't respond but her hands tightened their grip. Finally, reluctantly, she broke away from him, slightly, so she could breathe.

"I…I'm going to miss my flight if I don't leave now," she told him, wiping at her face with her sleeves. Derek gently cupped her face and brushed off the tear tracks with his thumbs.

"Then miss it," he said urgently, his voice low and intense. "Casey…c'mon. We'll run away together. We can live together for the rest of our lives. No one would have to know."

Fresh tears surged from her eyes, although she gave a shaky laugh. "M-mom and George may be oblivious parents but they would know something was up if we both disappeared," she sniffled.

"I don't care about Nora and George anymore, Casey," said Derek, his hazel eyes the most sincere Casey had ever seen them be. "All I care about is you. And seeing you, and being with you."

"I have to go, Derek…."

Derek let go of her and stepped back. "You're leaving me," he said, the phrase coming out more as a statement than a question. "The whole time we've been here all you've been saying is about how you have to leave!" His eyes were now narrowed in anger. "Have you been using me this whole time?"

"Derek, what are you saying?" Casey demanded, shocked and hurt.

"I was willing to give my _life_ up for you and you…you obviously don't care that much!" said Derek, shaking his head.

"No—Derek—!" Casey tried to interrupt him, unaware of what had caused this sudden one-eighty. "People are looking at us—"

"So _that's_ what you care about, is it?" shouted Derek. "You don't care that my life means _nothing_ without you? That _I_ am nothing?"

"No! Derek, calm down!" Casey yelled.

"No, I won't calm down! I'm done doing whatever you want!" Derek said angrily. "Have a nice flight."

He strode away from her, furious, uncomfortably aware that he had just made the biggest mistake of his life, leaving Casey by herself to sob while passerby looked on.

…

_What have I done?_ Derek questioned himself, slumped outside the airport doors. In a moment of passion he'd allowed anger to cloud his eyes. _I'm not angry at you, Casey. God, I hate myself right now. I didn't mean any of it. I swear I didn't, Casey, I just can't bear to lose you. _

_I wasn't lying to you, Casey. I am nothing without you. My life has no meaning. _

_I'm so sorry, Casey, so, so, so very sorry. _

_You're never coming back to me. _

_I've lost you, my heartbeat, my breath, my sight, my Casey. _

_Not mine anymore. _

_Good bye, Casey._

………………………………………………………………………………………..

**_A/N: _**So…what do you guys think so far? I hope this isn't too confusing, but if it is I'll give you a more detailed summary. The story starts when Derek and Casey are 28, in 2018, on the eve of Casey's wedding. From there, the middle is a flashback until the last chapter, which is again set in the "present," November 11 2018. As you can see I had my first flashback here, in 2008, when Derek was seeing Casey off as she left for school. Derek's outburst was because he doesn't know how to handle the pain of losing her; it's hurting him so much inside that he wasn't thinking about what he was saying.

But from now on the flashbacks will go in correct chronological order and not backwards like this one; for instance I'll start in 2006 and go forward until 2008, leading up to this last scene, then jump back to the present (future). Hope you all enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

…

**June 5, 2006 **

"Finally!" sighed Emily, as she and Casey paused outside their secondary school to soak in some sunlight. "Summer hols are here! Malls and boys, here we come…right, Casey?"

Casey smiled, enjoying her best friend's enthusiasm as well as the pleasant weather: the clear blue sky, the warm enveloping rays of sun, the green of the trees. "Of course," Casey replied to her friend. "But you know, I have a lot of revising to do for entrance exams to uni—"

Emily shook her fluffy-haired head in exasperation. "Casey. Those exams aren't until summer of _next_ year. This will be your last chance to relax, show some skin at the beach, buy cute clothes…"

"As though I have anyone to wear them for," Casey muttered.

"Aww, c'mon Casey, maybe this will be your big chance with Sam!" replied Emily encouragingly. Casey nodded, her long brown ponytail swinging slightly. She was about to say something before Emily gripped her upper arm painfully hard. "Oooh, there's Derek!" she squealed.

Casey carefully prised off Emily's fingers and watched as her stepbrother exchanged high fives with some of his friends. She snorted. "Emily, he's not that special," she insisted. How many times had they had this exact same discussion? "Just 'cos he's cute on the outside, doesn't mean he's smart, or caring, or sweet—"

"Oh, so you _do_ admit that he's cute!" Emily said victoriously, loud enough for some people passing by to turn and stare. Emily let out a long, admiring breath. "You're so lucky, Casey," she informed the other girl. "You get to be around him all the time. Live in the same house!"

"I get the wonderful opportunity to study the sloth in his natural habitat," remarked Casey sarcastically. "And I do _not_ think he's cute. Seriously!" she added, when Emily raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Em, that's _gross_. He's my stepbrother! And he always leaves the bathroom a mess and he's always so arrogant and cocky and…" Casey trailed off hopelessly when she realized that Emily was more absorbed in Derek-watching than paying attention to her.

Emily seemed to snap out of a trance and she spoke to Casey, "Were you saying something? I was listening—I totally agree." Again, Casey was about to respond when again Emily's fingers resumed their vise-like grip on her arm. "He's coming over he's coming over ohmygodohmygod what am I gonna say?"

Sure enough, Derek was sauntering over, his artfully messy brown hair catching red highlights in the sunlight. Once he was there he gave Emily a deliberate top-down look, ignoring Casey's impatient sigh.

"So, Emily, it's summer," Derek remarked in his suavest voice. Emily could do nothing more than squeak out a reply.

"Brilliant deduction, Sherlock," Casey muttered, although no one minded her. _Well gee, what else is new…_

"I was thinking," Derek continued, his eyes liquid and seductive as honey, "maybe we can see a little more of each other over the hols." He winked brazenly. "You know my number. Just call any time." And with that Derek left the awestruck Emily and an irritated Casey to go back to last minute planning with the hockey team.

"Did. You. Just. _Hear that?_" Emily demanded ecstatically, blushing furiously. "Derek Venturi just asked me out! I mean…_Derek Venturi_ just asked _me_ out! What am I going to say? More importantly what am I going to _wear?_" She paused in these musings when she finally realized Casey's silence.

"Um, Casey?" ventured Emily. "You're not like…weirded out or mad or anything because your stepbrother is dating your best friend?"

"Oh…no, not at all," Casey replied, smiling for Emily, although seething inside. _Oooh, I'm going to have a talk with that Derek Venturi when I come home…_

…

"Derek!" said Casey when the both of them came home. They had the house to themselves, at least for forty-five minutes or so, before Edwin and Lizzie, and eventually Marti, Nora, and George, came in.

"What can the Derek help you with?" that particularly exasperating specimen of manhood replied, swiveling around in his chair to face Casey. She had a stern expression on her face and her hands were planted firmly on her slight hips.

"Okay, I'm just going to ignore that '_the Derek'_ bit," Casey said, in a voice of determined calm. "Now. I want you to call Emily _right now_ and make plans with her for dinner or a movie or whatever else it is."

"And…why would that be?" Derek asked, in a voice of unconcern. He was glancing at his nails.

"Because, Derek! You can't just go around and…and play with girls' hearts like that!" replied Casey, thoroughly irritated.

"I can't? Well, that's news to me…"

"Derek, I always knew you were a jerk, but I didn't know until now that you are an outright _tool_," Casey responded. "Poor Emily is half in love with you for _some_ unknown reason and—"

Derek gave a mock-dramatic sigh. "Could it be because of my perfect hair, my flawless physique, and my impish smile?" he said.

"I don't know why, and I actually don't _want_ to know why she likes you, but at least I'm sure that humans and sloths can't mate so I can rest easy on that point…"

"Look, Case, it's like this," Derek said, a little more seriously. "Emily's a nice girl, and pretty enough in her own…way. But she's just not my type."

"Oh, why not? Because she's not some blonde Barbie bimbo and her brains are bigger than her bre--"

Derek held up a hand to stop her tirade. "No, it's more like I can't be caught dating someone who's…how do I put this delicately," he said, pretending concern. "Oh that's right, I don't. Anyway, I can't be seen dating _your_ best friend. It would throw me off the social ladder clear into outer space. Nope, sorry, no can-do."

Casey stuck her face mere centimeters from Derek's and said in the fiercest voice she could muster, "You _will_ call up Emily, and you _will _make plans with her."

"You know," Derek said thoughtfully, so that Casey relaxed a little bit, "you're kinda cute when you're mad."

Casey recoiled from him. "Aaaargh! Why did I ever think I could hope to reason with a primitive life form like you?" she asked angrily. She was too aggravated to give any weight to his comment about her, too full of injustice on her friend's part as well as irritation at males in general.

"Listen Edwin," Casey said when the boy had come home, "when you grow up, I want you _nothing like_ Derek, okay?"

"But why not?" Edwin complained, making himself a snack. "Derek gets all the pretty girls, and all the hot girls, and all the beautiful girls, and…well, I guess, just _all_ the girls."

Casey held back the rest of what she going to say out of concern for Edwin's poor innocent ears, although she was sure he'd heard worse from Derek.

"But I bet they're all also really dumb and really mean," Lizzie said as she came in at that moment, rescuing Casey unwittingly. She nodded sagely at Edwin. "You never see Derek with the same girl twice, do you? Or maybe it's because he's an unevolved troglodyte…right, Casey?"

"Uh…why don't we forget that little comment, okay?" Casey told Lizzie, smiling in embarrassment. "You're right though, he is," she whispered quickly. She left the kitchen for the den. Lizzie and Edwin were still discussing Derek's dating habits and teenagers in general in the kitchen.

Casey knew that her last resort were her parents. _I'll just tell Mom,_ she decided. _Then she'll tell George and George'll be too anxious to not have a fight that he'll just do as Mom says._ Satisfied with her plan she waited happily with a book for her parents to come home.

The minute she found Nora and George alone she shut the door and stood in front of them. "Mom," she complained, "today Derek told Emily that he'd date her but then today after school he told me that he'd never be caught dead with her and she's going to have her poor heart broken all because of _him_ and—"

Nora nodded and held up her hand, stemming Casey's righteous flow. "I understand, Casey," Nora said. She turned to George. "George, darling, won't you just…_suggest_ that Derek take Emily on a date?"

George looked cagey for a moment. "Nora dear, he should be allowed to date whomever he wants to…."

"But he'd already _told_ her that he would date her," Nora pointed out.

"Okay, um…why don't we ask Derek his side, too," suggested her new husband. Nora drew back.

"Are you saying you don't trust _my_ daughter?" she demanded.

George hastened to correct her. "No, no, not at all—it's just she might be a bit biased because she's Emily's best friend and all—but of course she's telling nothing but the truth…"

Casey sighed impatiently. "Mom, George? Can we get back to the _real_ issue now?"

Nora looked over at George and nodded. "Derek!" George yelled. A few moments later his head appeared over the banister and George beckoned for him to come down. With seconds Derek was standing next to Casey.

"What's this all about?" he asked, raking a hand through his hair, then carefully patting it back down into place.

"Well, Derek," Nora started, "Casey here says that first you told Emily that you would date her, then told Casey that you had no intention to."

"Son, if that's really what you said…then you're going to have to take her out on the date," George said. "So, does Casey have it all right?"

"And don't lie, Derek," Casey instructed him sharply. Derek shot her a look before turning back to his stepmother and dad.

"Look, all I said to Emily was _maybe_ we could hang out sometime," he said. "I didn't make an guarantees…now did I, Casey?"

"No," Casey managed out, through gritted teeth. "But you _knew_ she was going to take it as a marriage proposal!"

Derek shrugged. "Can I help it if everyone wants a little bit of the Derek?" he questioned innocently.

"Mom! George!" demanded Casey, turning away from the sexist pig that masqueraded as a Derek.

"Well," said Nora slowly, deliberating.

"Casey, I'm sorry, but if Derek didn't expressly _say_ that he was going to date Emily, I don't see why he should have to if he doesn't want to," George said. Derek gave his dad the thumbs up.

"But, George…it seems as though Derek _did_ know exactly how Emily was going to take it," Nora cut in, her brow furrowed. "He can't be allowed to treat girls in this casual manner."

"Nora, honey, we have no way of _knowing_ that he did know…"

Casey sighed. _This is what happens when both your parents are lawyers_, she thought. She glanced at Derek, who was lounging in a wifebeater and old shorts that rode low on his hips, exposing quite more boxers than she was quite prepared to see from her stepbrother.

Finally, George sighed—in defeat, it seemed, to Casey and Derek, who had both tuned out of the argument a long time ago. "Derek, your stepmother and sister make a good point. Just take Emily out for one night, okay?"

Casey smiled triumphantly. "But…but Dad!" Derek complained. "I can't take her out anywhere!"

Her smile vanished and she turned to Derek. "Not every date has to end with you and the girl on the old couch," she snapped.

"She _does_ have an idea there," George acknowledged. He looked up at his standing son. "Just…take her to the movies or something, someplace dark, where no one can see you two and you don't have to see her."

"George!" Nora exclaimed, lightly hitting him in the arm.

He rubbed the sore spot jokingly. "Know why I never took you to any movies?" he said in a low deep voice. "It's because you were too pretty. I had to keep looking at you…"

"Oh George, stop it," Nora giggled. Casey and Derek rolled their eyes, making the mutual tacit agreement to leave.

"Definitely _not_ something I want to see," Derek said, when they were safely upstairs.

"Yeah, seeing our parents _flirt_ with each other…"

But Derek hadn't forgotten what Casey had made him do. "Now, this time I may have to do whatever you say," he said, coming up close to Casey belligerently. Casey found herself inexplicably thinking that his breath really wasn't all that bad. "But. Derek does not do anything that Derek does not want to. Got it?"

"Whatever," said Casey. "Although I've got to hand it to you: You must be the only Neanderthal still alive. Think I could sell you to a museum for further studying?" She smirked in superiority.

"Case, that hurts," Derek said, putting one hand on his heart. "After all I've done for you? Trust me, being stepbrother to the biggest loser in our form is hardly a piece of cake, after all."

"Oh…I'm sorry, I thought that honor belonged to _you_, Derek," she retorted. They were still awfully close; she resisted the urge to childishly stick her tongue out at him, because it would contact his face, and that would just be odd. "Sticks and stones, _Der,_ sticks and stones." With that last shot she ducked under his arms and escaped to her own room.

……………

**July 12, 2006**

"Are we there yet?" Marti complained from the backseat of the family van.

"Ah…just a few more minutes, honey!" Nora called from the front passenger seat.

"I gotta go use the bathroom," the youngest sibling announced. George sighed.

"Marti, I'm sorry, but I'm stuck in traffic—I promise, the next exit we see, okay?" he told her, gripping the steering wheel hard. "What ever in the world made us think this was a good idea?" he asked Nora.

In the middle two seats Derek and Casey sat with their headphones on, oblivious to anything else. Casey was reading a thick book that had a prominent picture of a black-haired fellow on the front cover. Derek was half-asleep, his fingers slightly drumming the song beat on the window. In the back, Lizzie and Edwin watched a cartoon on a portable DVD player, an earbud in each ear. Marti, who had brought a few of her stuffed animals, had promptly lost interest in them and demanded to watch the same movie as her older brother and stepsister.

It was a hot summer weekend and Nora and George had taken a few days off work in order to take a family outing to the beach. Although they had started early (at 8 a.m, practically the crack of dawn) they had been stuck in monster traffic and it was now 5 p.m.

"We should've been there two hours ago," George muttered. "Where could all these people possibly be going?"

"At least the kids are quiet," Nora commented. She sighed. "What a relief, you know when we first thought about this I had a lot of doubts but now—"

"Daddy, I can't hold it anymore!" Marti whined loudly.

"Ah, honey, you gotta do your best!" George called back. "Almost—we're almost there…."

He seized a miniscule gap in the cars. They made it.

Finally, an hour and half later, they arrived at their beachfront condo. George got out and took a deep breath. "Finally we're here, guys," he said. "Some bracing sea air will do you all some good." His family was looking around the old condo dubiously, eyeing the water stains and the lumpy sofas with trepidation.

"I don't like it," declared Marti. "When are we going home?"

"Shhh," Edwin hushed his younger sister, "we just got here, Marti." While the younger children quarreled George cleared his throat and faced Derek and Casey.

"Well Derek, Casey, as you might be able to tell we don't exactly have a lot of room here," he started, unsure of how to break the news to them. "Nora and I decided that the best way to divide up the space was by age—excepting Marti, of course, who'll be staying with us." The two teenagers eyed George warily, expecting the worst. "So basically what that means is…you two will be rooming with each other."

"What!" they both exclaimed at the same time.

"I'd rather sleep out _there_ than with him!" Casey said, jabbing her finger in the direction of the sea.

"And I'd rather be stung by jellyfish than share a room with you," Derek told his stepsister. He turned to his father. "C'mon, Dad, why can't I stay with Edwin?"

"Because Edwin is sharing with Lizzie," George stated the obvious.

Nora, who had been busy quieting Marti, looked up. "It's just for a few days, guys. Besides, what are you going to do in your rooms besides sleep? The rest of the time you'll be on the beach, the boardwalk, or in town."

"But…but…" Casey stammered, at a complete loss for words at this perceived betrayal of her by her mother. "Mom, whatever happened to girl power? What's wrong with my rooming with Lizzie?"

"Dad. I'm not sleeping in the same room as her," Derek said firmly. He looked from George to Nora to Casey. "I'm not."

George shrugged. "Fine then, you don't have to," he said shortly. "Although I'd like to see where else you've found to keep warm tonight."

_Sarcasm is always bad_, Derek thought, realizing that George was serious. Really serious.

"Mom, George, Derek and I can barely be around each other for a minute without fighting," Casey said desperately. "How can we stay in a room together? Even for only four days?"

"See, Casey, you won't really have to," Nora explained. "Like I said, you're not going to have to be locked in your room together for the rest of the four days! All you have to do is sleep there."

"Fine," she muttered, swinging her pack up on to her shoulder and walking into a side room. She flung her pack down, taking in the two beds (thankfully at either ends of the room), the peeling wallpaper, and the gorgeous ocean view. She turned when Derek walked into the room, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

"Don't say anything," he told her as he dumped his bag on the second bed. "The less we are in contact with each other, the better this will be. Got it?"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Casey returned.

…

The next morning they woke up late and ate a casual pancake breakfast. Casey was already wearing her swimsuit, a chocolate brown bikini top that matched her hair over a pair of shorts. She said nothing to Derek, who was similarly taciturn.

"See, you two?" Nora said, as she took a bit of pancake. "Staying together wasn't _that_ bad…." She trailed off at the glares Casey and Derek threw her way.

After breakfast the whole family went out on the beach. Casey spread out a beach towel and settled down to read her new favorite book, _The Count of Monte Cristo_. Derek found himself unconsciously watching her as she carefully applied sunscreen all over her slender arms, the long expanse of fair skin and flat stomach, the beautiful slim thighs. He shook his head suddenly to clear them of their unwelcome thoughts and stared out to sea instead.

_Must be going effing crazy,_ he thought vaguely, _looking at Casey like she's any other girl…._ He waded into the chill ocean waters, refreshing but not frigid, feeling the sand between his toes. He stepped in farther, ducked his head under, and sensed little fishes swarming around his legs. To such tiny beings his legs must look like a great offensive force, filling their miniscule brains with fear. Derek floated on his back, gently letting the waves break over him, allowing the sum to embrace him, feeling at peace for the first time in a long while.

Casey looked up from her book to see Derek coming back towards her, his back and legs covered with sand and silt. "Been having fun with your relatives in there?" she asked him waspishly.

Derek just looked at her. He _had_ actually enjoyed being in the sea; something about it struck a chord with him. And now Casey had to go and cut into all that with her wit. "You're very clever, aren't you," Derek said sarcastically, coming to sit right next to Casey. She scooted away.

"Ew, you're all filthy!" she protested. She carefully brushed a few sand granules off her lithe body, which Derek again found himself watching. She was fifteen, and her figure still would mature (Derek would know that quite well, after all his experience dating older girls) but he knew she would be a beauty—

_Snap out of it, you idiot! _Derek chastised himself. _How gross can you be? _

"Um, Derek? Are you okay?" asked Casey, concerned by the odd look on his face and his sudden silence.

He turned to her and seemed to wake out of a daydream. "Wh—oh, yeah, I'm fine. The Derek is never anything less than perfect."

Casey sighed in frustration. "How egotistical can you _be_ to refer to yourself as 'the Derek'?"

He winked. "Not ego, honesty," he said in mock-innocence. "I am the one—the only—the Derek."

"Well thank God there's only one of you, I don't think we could have handled any more…."

Derek stretched, leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows. His lean muscles were on full view…too bad the beach wasn't exactly full of hot blonde bikini-clad girls to admire them. Casey glanced at him and then poked his hard stomach curiously.

"How'd you get those?" she wondered. A completely sister-to-brother action and question. Derek wondered why he missed that sudden all-too-brief contact of their flesh.

"I was born with them," answered Derek. "You like them? So do all the other girls."

"Derek," asked Casey, exasperated "do you ever get tired of dating a girl a week, knowing they want you pretty much for your looks only?"

"Hey, I don't just have flavors of the week," Derek defended himself. "Heather—no, Rebecca—no, Sarah…wait, no it was Amanda—yeah, I dated Amanda for almost two weeks."

"Oh wow, _that _was a compelling argument," Casey said, rolling her eyes. "But seriously. You _do_ know they just want your looks, popularity, and—" she broke off suddenly.

"And…what?" he prompted. Casey mumbled something indistinct, blushing slightly. "You mean, they only like my looks, popularity, and skill on the couch?" Casey nodded almost imperceptibly, but she chanced a glance at him after a few seconds. He was still reclining on his forearms, looking up into the sky.

"Not much there left, is there, after all that?" he said wryly. He turned to look at Casey. "It's not as though I've got brains, and as you're constantly informing me, I'm an '_arrogant jerk'_…."

"I—Derek, I'm sorry, I never meant to insult you…"

"You think I take you _that _seriously, Case?" Derek said, laughing. "How naïve. Now I've got a question for you: How does it feel to be the biggest loser in school?"

"I'm _not_ the biggest loser," Casey insisted.

"You're right, that would be Fat Pat, but you come in a close second."

"And you are infuriating!" she exclaimed.

"Only if you agree to be irritating," he countered swiftly. Casey glared at him with her blue eyes narrowed before huffily gathering her beach things and stalking into the condo.

…

By the time they left the beach vacation, Derek had managed to forget about his thoughts for Casey, those odd moments when he'd _thought about _her in a way he had a feeling he shouldn't. So on the ride back home it was perfectly normal that the two of them weren't speaking to each other,

For once Nora and George had insisted on a 5 a.m departure time so the kids were too tired to do anything else but sleep, such as argue and scream for bathroom breaks.

"N-N-N-Nora," yawned George, "whose idea was this?"

"Yours, dear," Nora replied, adjusting her travel pillow.

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

………………………………………………………………….

**_A/N: _**So…any thoughts? I really appreciate any feedback! I really hope I'm not making the dialogue too out-of-character…for some reason I feel like the dialogue is coming a lot easier to me for this show than it has for any other and that's kind of making me feel a little worried.

Sorry to any native Canadians if I got some details wrong…I did try to do my research but I'm a lifelong resident of the lower 48 and the only experience with Canada I've had is _Anne of Green Gables_—which is, of course, a wonderful book.

So um here is kind of the beginning of Dasey feelings for each other and sure, it might be at first based solely on physical attraction but they're not quite there yet. But don't worry, they will be—and soon. Man, if the writers didn't intend for there to be a Dasey pairing why did they make Derek and Casey have so much tension? Yeah, I know they probably didn't write it to have so much tension but that's the way it did turn out. Think they've got something going on off-screen? The way they argue is just _charged_.

Until next installment! Thanks a lot for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

…

**August 18, 2006**

Casey woke up at 5 a.m. with a huge smile on her face.

"Good morning, everybody!" she sang out at the breakfast table. Edwin and Lizzie shot her glares from under heavy-lidded eyes. George and Nora paused for a moment before deciding to ignore her. Casey's face fell a bit as she noticed everyone's antipathy.

"Guys, how can you be so…unexcited?" she asked, pausing at the island with a milk carton in her hand. Her family members slowly raised their eyes to her and fixed her with a stare. "It's the first day of school! I've been looking forward to this since vacation!"

"Casey," Nora said in a low voice, "please, be quiet?" The other four returned to their breakfasts while Casey still puzzled over the low-key reactions of her family over her orange juice.

After a few minutes, as Casey was getting ready to leave, George spoke up. "Where's Derek?" he asked, looking around.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Where else would that lazybones be except in bed, sleeping?" she said.

"Casey!" Nora said sharply. "Why didn't you wake him up?"

She looked at her mother disbelievingly. "He's not my responsibility….Besides, it doesn't really matter if he comes to school or not, the end result is the same."

Nora and George exchanged a look. "Actually Casey, we wanted to…ah…talk to you, briefly, before you left," George started. "About what you just said. We really want Derek to graduate next year and go on to uni and have a job. So if you could just…help him along a little bit, you know, this year, see if you can get him on track…?"

Casey looked at her mom, who had a determined glint in her eye. "Sure, I can try," Casey said. "Although I don't know how much he'll even be listening."

"Oh trust me, he'll be listening," said George grimly. "We're preemptively banning dates and hockey. Until," he amended, "Derek can prove that he can take academic responsibility. We're not asking for a miracle, Casey," he continued, "we just need to get his marks up to passing level."

"Well…you know how much I love a challenge," Casey replied, although inwardly she was writhing against the idea. _Luckily Derek's going to find a way out so I don't have to tutor him. Because I can think of fifty other things I'd rather be doing than helping Derek revise. _

George sighed. "He's really a bright kid, inside," he said. "He just doesn't know how to _apply_ himself…to schoolwork, at least," and Casey could tell he was thinking about how Derek certainly knew how to apply himself to the girls he invariably brought home.

"Well, I'm heading off to school now!" she announced, her good mood mostly restored by the prospect of being the first intermediate class student at school. _Anyway, who really cares about Derek? I'll think about him later. _

_Much later._

…

"Derek, why's your hair so messy?" Casey heard some blonde girl who was practically glued to him ask in dismay during the lunch hour.

Derek prised the girl away from him and gave her a disdainful look. "It's not _messy_," he replied coolly. "Obviously you haven't been…ah, keeping up with the latest styles." He walked away from her, his leather jacket collar up, while the blonde looked confused, hurt, and even as thoughtful as she could be with two braincells.

Or so Casey thought.

"I don't know what he sees in them," she complained to Emily.

"It's not so much what he sees _in _them, as what he sees _on_ them," Emily replied sadly, filing her books away in her locker.

Casey snorted slightly. "What a jerk. One day he'll realize that no matter how hot a girl may be it doesn't mean she's not going to be a complete and total witch."

"Ouch," Emily said, looking at her friend in surprise. She had noticed that Casey seemed to be talking about Derek rather moe often lately—and even today, one of Casey's favorite days of the year, her joy at being in school was overcome by thoughts of her stepbrother. "Geeze Casey, if I didn't know you better I'd say you were…."

"I am what?"

"Well…I'd say you were jealous," Emily said carefully, shutting her locker and spinning the lock. "Casey, this is your favorite day—the first day of school—and instead of gushing about your teachers and your coursework you're complaining about Derek. I mean, _I'm_ the one who has a crush on him and even I don't think of him this much."

"Jealous? Me?" Casey scoffed. "Ha! As if I _wanted_ to be a blonde Barbie with no originality and no brains. And Derek's hardly a prize, Em. I'm not _jealous_."

Emily raised her eyebrows slightly. "All right, if you say so," she said, "although that was a _bit_ too forceful to be entirely believable….So, what do you think of the new maths teacher?"

…

"Listen up, Casey," Derek said the moment both of them had come home. "Now, when Dad and Nora drove me to school this morning they told me that you're supposed to be tutoring me."

"Yeah," she said cautiously, wondering what he was getting at. "So what?"

"So…I don't _want_ to be tutored," he replied. "But I know when my Dad is serious, and he was definitely serious about banning hockey and girls—"

"However in the world will you go on?" asked Casey sarcastically.

"Look, it's not as though _I_ want to be tutored by you," he snapped back, "and I know you don't _want_ to tutor me. All I need to do is maintain a marks average of 75, right?"

"Yeah, but you could do so much better—" Derek held up a hand to stop Casey's quick comment.

"No Casey, I can't," he said, "and I don't want to either. Like you said, girls only want me because I'm hot and can play hockey, right?" Was that…a tiny amount of bitterness in his voice? "So here's the deal. I'll study—just enough to get me up to 75. But you will not say anything. You will sit in my room and do your own work. I do not take orders from you. _Capiche?_"

Casey was startled, even a little taken aback, by the vehemence of Derek's orders. She even felt a little hurt…but more than that she felt angry. "Fine, whatever," she said. "But _not_ because you told me to…because I really don't want to teach you."

…

When Casey heard footsteps coming up the stairs she left her seat to sit next to Derek. "Okay, so, what's the cosine of pi by two?"

"Ah…one?"

Casey held in her exasperated sigh when her mother and George poked their heads into Derek's room. "Well, this is a nice surprise," Nora said. Casey looked up, her long dark hair contrasting with the red-brown of Derek's head, still bent over a notebook.

"Keep up the work, son," George said, "and we'll consider giving you back your priveleges." They walked out of Derek's room to leave their children to study.

"Zero," Casey said. "See, when you look at the unit circle, and here's 0 and here's pi by two which is really the same as ninety degrees, you can clearly see that—"

Derek took a deep breath and spoke in an eerily calm voice. "Casey, what did I tell you about actually tutoring me?"

"But Derek, your first test is in a week and you _have_ to know the unit circle!" Casey protested.

"I'm learning it!" he said loudly.

"Fine," Casey snapped, and returned to her French book.

…

**August 29, 2006**

"Eighty-six? Derek, that's great!" Casey said when she saw Derek's maths paper. She couldn't resist hugging him. "See, I _told_ you that if you worked hard you could—"

"You have nothing to do with this, remember?" Derek said, although he couldn't help but notice the faint pleasant smell of her raspberry body lotion.

Casey pulled away from him, a little hurt and a lot irritated. "Derek, would it really kill you to be civil to me once in a while? I'm not saying you have to be my servant or anything, just…"

"Mr. Laurence wrote me a note to see him," Derek muttered. "He reckoned I cheated." Casey lookd at him carefully, how he glanced away from her and not even at his paper. He didn't seem proud at all.

_Could it possible, _Casey thought in a flash of insight, _could it be possible that Derek actually _cares _that no one thinks he's smart…is it possible that he _wants _to have good marks?_ Associating Derek with marks and school was something that did not come easily to Casey and she stared at him, almost disbelievingly, that for a year she had read him so wrongly. Or was this a new development? Was the promise of hockey and girls enough to make Derek work hard for the first time in his life?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Derek asked suspiciously. He stepped back slightly when Casey threw another impulsive hug around his neck. "What was that for?" he demanded when she pulled away, smiling. She shrugged and turned to go upstairs, humming slightly. Her hips were swaying as she walked, hypnotizing him, inviting him to try to unravel Casey, challenging him to it in fact.

But he didn't call after her, because he didn't exactly know what to do.

…

That evening it was amicable in Derek's room where both stepsiblings studied independently while rock music played in the background.

"Oooh, turn up the volume please? It's my favorite," said Casey once, not looking up from her notes. With barely a pause in his writing Derek reached up with one hand and turned the volume knob. Casey's foot bounced in time to the beat and her whole body moved a little from side to side in an odd sort of sitting dance.

Casey had the weird sensation that Derek's eyes were on her, but she didn't turn around to check. She'd never imagined that it would be this nice to have him in the same room with her. Listening to the same music. Studying the same material. There was a wonderful warm feeling of camaraderie edged with something sharper that she couldn't quite name but that resided in the lower regions of her abdomen.

All of a sudden she found she couldn't concentrate on _Le Petite Prince_, slim and fascinating as it was. She turned around slowly to see Derek's brown head bent over a notebook. He had flopped stomach-down on the bed and a pencil dangled from his left hand. He looked as though he was concentrating, as though he was really thinking about the material.

_I guess he really can pull himself together…when the reward is big enough_, Casey thought with a sniff. George and Nora had had to _bribe_ him to study, but to his credit, he actually was. And he wasn't nearly as unintelligent as he generally passed himself off as. _So George was right_, said Casey to herself, _it's not that he's not smart—well, he's obviously no genius—but he just needed to care more._

So Derek _could_ be brought to care about something other than hockey and girls. She actually sort of _admired_ him for turning over this new leaf.

Despite the fact that he was still a Neanderthal. And he could be a troglodyte too.

But right now he was okay.

…

**September 18th, 2006**

Casey knew something was wrong that morning at breakfast. She had been calmly eating her cereal and studying the back of the box. When she heard Derek's steps coming towards the kitchen she glanced up.

And her heart skipped a beat.

She was _happy_ to see him, because in an odd way she had actually missed him when she had been sleeping.

_But that's ridiculous,_ Casey thought frantically, _you were asleep, you couldn't have missed anyone, least of all _Derek_, think about Sam, this is what's supposed to happen when you see _Sam!

Derek sat down next to her and seized the cereal box she had been reaching towards for seconds. He poured the remaining inch and a half of crumbs and flakes into his bowl and then took the last of the milk.

"Derek!" Casey demanded. "I was still hungry!"

He gave her a deliberate look, still heavy-lidded from sleep. "Trust me, you don't _need_ seconds."

"What?" shouted Casey, standing up. _Nope, definitely NOT happy to see him…_ "You…you…you Neanderthal!" she said. "How could you say that?"

"Easily," Derek said over a mouthful of cereal.

"Disgusting," spat Casey. "Everything about you. The state of your room, the way you talk with your mouth full, the way you'll only work if you're _bribed_, and even then only have substandard marks—"

Derek had swallowed his cereal and stood up also. "You want me to say it again? Because I will. Casey, you don't need seconds on anything." He enunciated each word clearly and noticed how her eyes narrowed into hard chips of ice—but were they glistening?

"I have nothing to say to someone as…as…." She gave up, at a loss to describe his depravity, and turned on her heel, striding out the door with her bag over her shoulder.

The moment she was outside, she sank down and let the tears fall.

…

"I hate him," she declared to her counsellor.

Paul, who had been treated to tirades like this many times before, knew from experience that she needed to talk herself out. But there was something different to her words this time. A certain vehemence, a conviction, but there was still some vulnerability in there.

_I really need to go back to school…_ he thought wearily.

"Well, Casey, hate is…it's quite a strong word," he said soothingly.

"He deserves it," she replied. "He's a troglodyte, no, he's a…a….I can't even find words to describe him!" Casey was pacing the room as was her habit. Paul had never seen her quite this worked up.

"Ah, why do you care so much what he says?" Paul asked. Maybe then he could help Casey get over her anger.

Casey stopped and looked at him in disbelief. "I don't _care_, it's just…it's just not nice to be insulted all the time," she said. "I have to live with him, remember?"

"Yes, but you have to learn to ignore him," he advised. "It's not healthy to get worked up into storms of violent emotion…I'm sorry, but you have a tendency to do that."

"He started it," Casey defended herself weakly, sinking back into the chair.

…

"Casey, is something wrong?" Nora asked of her eldest daughter, noting how she only picked at her food, cut it up into small pieces and moved it around. Derek looked up sharply; they had been silent since the fight in the morning and Casey had refused to look at him the whole time she was in his room.

Casey managed a smile, her whole family's eyes on her. They were concerned, all of them…_not all,_ Casey reminded herself, _not Derek_, but it felt nice to know that even the newest additions to her family cared about her.

"I don't feel too well…kind of stressed," she replied, and stuffed a forkful of mashed potato into her mouth. "Really," she said, after she swallowed. "See? I am eating." Another mouthful. Nora reulctantly returned to her dinner and everybody else followed suit.

Derek cornered in the upstairs hallway. "Listen, Casey…" He didn't allow himself to be discouraged by her silence. She was against the wall, his hands planted near her head: there was no way she could escape. "I know I don't say this very often, but…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said this morning."

Casey looked up at him, her eyes still as ice—but Derek knew ice could be melted. "You're absolutely gorgeous," he said quietly, looking her straight in the eyes. Her irises widened and there—there was the normal, soft blue of her orbs. "I mean," he quickly amended, "that's what a lot of guys say."

"R—really?" stammered Casey, unused to compliments. Derek gave a tiny nod.

Their faces were so close together. The moment was so right, her eyes were so wide, her mouth was so vulnerable. Derek's head lowered ever so slightly.

"Smerek, move out of the way!" Marti complained loudly, tugging at Derek's pants. The moment was broken as Derek hastened to comply. He walked into his room and shut the door.

Casey stood against the wall for another moment, turning her face so that the wall cooled her hot face. '_You're gorgeous_,' is what he'd said, '_you're gorgeous, you're gorgeous, you're gorgeous.' _The thoughts of their almost-kiss she pushed away for later examination. For now she let Derek's voice in memory lull her to sleep.

………………………………….

_**A/N: **19 reviews for chapter one and 8 for chapter 2? C'mon guys, where's the love? Hahahahaha. _

_Anyway hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. More to come soon, promise! Action is starting, feelings are heating up, tension is building….I should have one of their infamous physical fights soon too. Ohhhh the possibilities….Until next time!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

…

**September 25, 2006**

It had been a week. Seven days, one hundred and sixty-eight hours, countless more minutes, infinite seconds. All spent in complete absorption by two young people on something that had not happened.

Derek had gone to bed that night full of an odd, alien sensation he'd certainly never felt before. It was the mixture of a desire for Casey, of the moment they'd almost kissed, of a newfound need to protect her vulnerable self from harm, of deep regret that they did not kiss. And, Derek noticed uncomfortably, this wasn't the same sort of frustration that he'd felt when he'd been thwarted in his romantic endeavors before.

Mostly because Casey was definitely _not_ the sort of girl Derek normally went for…aside from the fact that she was his stepsister. Maybe, he thought, maybe this was just a product of him being a normal, hormonal sixteen-year-old male. But he had never really thought of his emotions towards any girls before…at least not seriously. The extent of his thoughts generally went to "she's hot" to "damn she's a great kisser."

Whatever the stereotype may be, Derek thought, guys _definitely_ spent as much time thinking about their feelings as girls. Especially when it was a strange feeling. Not the less amplified by the fact that he lived with Casey, saw her every day…in fact, in order to keep up the charade, spent hours in his room.

How easy it would be to lean over and kiss her! thought Derek, almost angrily turning over on his bed. His covers lay in disarray, although the fall was deepening and the night was chilly. His sleep patterns had been disturbed ever since that fateful night where he had saved Casey (or at least liked to believe he had), and when he did fall asleep, it was generally deep and dreamless.

In a way, he wanted _those_ dreams, ones where Marti was at Jericho and Derek had kissed Casey and she responded. Only because he knew it would never happen in real life.

But, he convinced himself, it was simply a _physical_ attraction. That was normal…although a little colored by the fact that Casey was his sister (although not by blood, that was very important). Still, there was nothing inherently _wrong _with it.

If only Derek knew that only steps down the hallway a restless Casey was thinking those very same thoughts, knowing she oughtn't to, counting the reasons why. Half-crumpled papers littered the floor around her desk, lists outlining every possible reason and every possible outcome of _the night_.

But the one thing her careful analyses and rationed arguments could not explain was the fact that she had felt something deep in her abdomen when Derek was that close.

Yes, she finally, grudgingly, hatefully admitted to herself, she was attracted to him.

Strongly. If only physically. But basically, yes—attracted to her brother (although not by blood, that was very important).

And the worst part: she still felt it. In the rare moments since _the night_ that their eyes met, perhaps at the dinner table; or when they accidentally brushed against each other; or when Derek was required to say something to her, she felt that same tingling and heart thud as she did on _the night_.

What could she do about it? Did he know that it was agony to sit with him in his room, painful to see him acting normally around everyone but her, hurtful that they could hardly speak to each other? Casey cocooned her thin comforter around herself, her open, sleepless eyes staring at a ceiling that was being quite unhelpful in not answering her questions. Was he, right now, sleeping pleasantly, dreaming about some blonde he was planning on taking out, unaware that Casey was still wrapped up in thinking about something that had never happened?

Probably Derek had planned _the night_. He must have known what it would do to her, setting her thoughts into overdrive! Since Derek could not do anything purely nice or altruistic—especially to her—he had complimented her in such a way that she would be uncomfortable and restive.

So the two adolescents, close to each other but painfully far from each other, spent yet another sleepless night wondering what the other thought.

…………………

**October 29, 2006**

"I'll fix him for you," said Derek with an almost murderous conviction.

There sitting next to him at the kitchen counter, the two of them alone, sat a sobbing Casey. "No, no, Derek," she managed through her tears. She took a handkerchief he silently proffered and mopped her face. "I must look an awful mess," she said ruefully, her voice nasal.

Indeed her eyes were red, her face puffy, cheeks dirtied by tears. She made an unattractive snorting noise and Derek did a small grin. "Not any worse than usual," he said softly. Casey gave a slight, unconvincing chuckle, to let Derek know his attempts at a joke had worked. "It doesn't matter, anyway," he said, the quiet anger back in his voice. "He ought to be worrying about the way he's going to look, once I'm done with him."

"Derek, don't," Casey whispered, but her sobs renewed. Derek moved his arms around her and held her closer, not entirely sure what to be doing but letting Casey cry, pressing another tissue to her. He made soft shushing noises in her ear, gently stroked her hair, murmured into her ear—anything and everything: about how _he_ was such a jerk, about how _he_ didn't know how wonderful she was, how it was _his_ loss.

After a while Casey's sobs were mere sniffles, and Derek gently nudged her upright. "Case? You want to talk about it?"

Casey shrugged hopelessly, wiping her face with another tissue. "There's not much to tell," she said bleakly, her voice still slightly congested. "Not even eight months….And everything was going fine!" she said, looking at Derek in utter confusion. "We didn't fight, or anything—just the other day he kissed me like everything was wonderful…."

Derek decided he'd kill Sam for the hurt, the confusion, the helplessness, in Casey's eyes. He couldn't take that vulnerable look….What had Casey done to deserve this?

"And…you're sure he didn't say anything to you?" she asked him, a note of hope creeping into her voice. "All he said to me was…was…" she paused while she furiously blinked back tears. " 'Sorry Casey, we're just not working out.'"

"Nothing to me—not yet," said Derek. Casey raised her eyes to meet his, and saw in them blazing warmth she had never seen—or perhaps never noticed—before. How seriously Derek was taking his role of brother-protector….

Once assured Casey was set up with a pint of chocolate ice cream and a magazine, Derek walked down the few streets that separated him from Sam, best friend and—until very recently—boyfriend of his sister.

Outside the painted door he knew so well, Derek took a few deep breaths, calming the adrenaline-racing of his heart and the blood pounding in his temples. He uncurled his hands from the fists they seemed to have unconsciously formed themselves into and rang the doorbell. He heard footsteps coming towards the door; he quickly checked his appearance in the glass to make sure that he was not looking as ugly as he felt.

Sam opened the door. He looked, Derek thought, slightly wary—_as well he should_, he said to himself. "Hey, Derek, what's up?"

"Hey man, mind if I come in?" Derek asked, pleasantly, lightly.

Sam shrugged, visibly relaxing. "Sure dude, whatever," and stepped back to let Derek in. He flopped on the couch while his friend went to grab a few sodas from the fridge. Derek stood up too and popped the tab and took a deep swig of the cola.

"Aaah, that hits the spot," he said, and then he slammed his drink down and punched his fist into Sam's jawbone. "And so does that."

It wasn't a particularly strong blow; Derek hadn't wanted to beat him to a pulp before he got the full story out of Sam, anyway. But Sam reeled from this unexpected, traitorous attack from the young man he'd grown up with. A splotchy purple bruise would form on his face tomorrow, he knew….

"This is whack," Sam said disbelievingly. "Dude, what is up with you?" He pressed the cool soda can to his face tenderly, sitting down on the coffee table.

Derek came up close to him. "You know perfectly well what is up," he said in a dangerously quiet voice. Sam had to lean in still closer to catch Derek's words. "I come home to find Casey sobbing. Broken, hurt. Because of _you_."

Sam eyed Derek with surprise. "Dude, why do you care so much? I broke up with her. You break up with about three girls a week."

"I care because she is too precious to be hurt like that!" Derek yelled, pulling away from Sam, unable to stand being next to him. "Casey is more wonderful and beautiful than any girl you will _ever_ meet again … and now, come to think of it, I think she's better off without you."

Sam gave a weird, incredulous laugh. "Dude. You're jealous. Of me over your _sister_."

"I am not jealous!" Derek shouted in reply. "It's my _duty_ to protect Casey from jackasses like you."

"This is why you didn't want me and her dating in the first place—'cos you wanted her all to yourself?" Sam taunted.

"No, it's because I knew she was too good for you, you lying bastard—"

"Sometimes people just fall apart," Sam said loudly. "I just didn't…dude, I just couldn't feel anything for her anymore."

Derek shook his head in disgust. "So what…you were just using her for free kisses? You coward, you couldn't even tell her why you broke up with her."

Sam was quiet. Derek was breathing heavily, but after a few moments of the silence he calmed. Wordlessly he got an icepack, wrapped it in a towel, and gave it to Sam. With equal taciturnity Sam accepted his friend's help and pressed the cold package to his cheek.

"Dude, look, maybe I…maybe I took it a little too far," Derek muttered after about half an hour.

Sam knew this was the closest to an apology as he would ever get from Derek and nodded. "It's cool. I get it, the whole protecting her thing." He paused, and then, remembering Derek's giving him the icepack, continued, "After all, you are her brother, and that's what brothers are supposed to do."

Derek didn't know what to say; his knuckles were red from where they'd contacted Sam's bone. He nodded tightly and left.

The cool autumn air did little to calm him, for even though he had apologized to Sam (after a fashion) it was mostly to put down Sam's back. He had raised some uncomfortable points that Derek had been avoiding….But he knew that if he didn't pretend to forgive Sam for breaking up with Casey then Sam would _know _something that should not be up… was in fact up.

When he came back home he went straight upstairs to check on Casey. She seemed better: at least, it looked as though it had been a while since she'd last cried, the remnants of the ice cream had melted into a sort of milkshake, and she was back to reading a schoolbook.

"Hey…mind if I come in?" he asked softly. Casey looked up, surprised, and then smiled her consent. Derek stepped inside, somewhat tentatively, feeling a swelling of emotion in his heart at the sight of his damaged stepsister.

"I saw him," Derek said after a moment. He took a seat at the edge of Casey's bed, after she'd shifted to make room for him. His back was rigid, his feet planted firmly on the carpet, refusing himself the comfort of sitting next to her. He looked at her. "I punched him for you."

"Derek, no, you didn't," she said, almost pleadingly. "Why?"

Derek shrugged. "He deserved it. He deserved a _lot_ more—although definitely not you."

Casey felt herself blush a little. "But…but, does this mean you guys won't be friends anymore or something?" She felt guilty, in a weird way, about being the reason Derek lost his only true friend.

"He's not worth it," Derek said softly. "Trust me." Casey felt new tears start to her eyes—products of Derek's impossible kindness. "Sh, sh, no need to cry anymore," he murmured, assuming it was because of Sam. He swung his legs up on Casey's bed and hugged her again, awkwardly, but nonetheless comforting. Casey pushed him away gently, afraid of the emotions her wet eyes would betray if she allowed Derek to continue holding her.

…

The worst part of the whole experience, Casey decided a few nights later, when the hurt was not as fresh, was not that Sam had broken up with her—but that she was _glad_ he had, because it meant it was okay to feel the way she did about Derek.

……………………………

**December 24, 2006**

Casey sighed in delight as she watched the snow fall, flour sifted from the skies. Although the clock showed 1.17 a.m, she was in the couch, wrapped up in a warm flannel blanket and slippers. The stark beauty of snow had always attracted Casey; the whiteness was a canvas of possibility: a new year to carve out, marriages between snowmen and snow angels to perform, delicious steaming mugs of hot chocolate after a vigorous snowball fight.

"Couldn't sleep?" came a slightly husky voice from behind her. Casey didn't turn but smiled slightly.

"Just watching the snow fall," she said. She felt the depression on the couch when Derek came to sit next to her. Without even looking away from the window she arranged the flannel blanket around both of them. In silence Casey and Derek watched the snow for some time, enjoying each other's warmth, the silence, the beauty, the darkness.

Since September Derek and Casey had been spending so much time together. Although at first their time was peppered with the same sort of tired quarrels and fights that they had always been plagued with, there had quickly developed a deep bond between the two. It wasn't just in their conversations, or the fact that they hardly fought anymore. Something neither of them could name pulled at them when the other was around, something that lived somewhere between their heart and their soul.

It was an _understanding_. Or, more accurately, the feeling that they understood each other.

Derek glanced at the tree, illuminated by the pale halo of a distant streetlamp. A long thin package with a tell-tale knob at the end lay obviously under it. True to their word, George and Nora had decided to reward Derek for his amazing improvement. Daily, it seemed, he was bringing back reports that showed his grades ever increasing.

They had rewarded Casey, too, thinking it was solely her doing. Although as time went on Derek became less averse to the idea of Casey helping him, most of his results were the direct result of his efforts. It was a mutual, tacit agreement between Casey and Derek that neither mention what really went on in Derek's room: that is to say, nothing, save a few hours of amicable conversation, but no studying, and no actual tutoring, except when Derek was really stuck.

Ever since Sam and broken up with Casey, Derek was a little more alert when she was around. And she was around a lot. But he never did anything (what could he do?) nor say anything (what could he say)?

"You want to see that new movie this weekend?" Derek suggested casually.

Casey finally looked away from the window. "You mean, just us two?" she said, surprised.

"Sure, why not," he replied, although internally panicking at what he'd done.

"Hmm…why not," Casey repeated. She smiled then; Derek could see the faint glint of her white teeth. She couldn't find any reason why not. In fact, she and Derek had been getting along almost impossibly well. There were the battles of wit and sarcasm, occasionally, the shallow arguments over music and books and television shows, and Casey never could reconcile herself to Derek's rather macho ways (for instance, his screensaver was absolutely shameless). But that only kept things interesting.

After a few more minutes, Derek's invitation and the promise of a movie together warming them from the inside, they said good night and went to bed.

……………..

**January 6, 2007**

Casey squealed when she felt something cold and wet hit the back of her neck through the woolen sweater and trickle down under her coat. She spun around to see Derek smirking at her, his gloved hands covered in tell-tale white flecks.

She shot him a glare and then, very carefully, bent to gather her own snowball. She was out of practice and in the time it took for her to carefully sculpt a perfect sphere Derek had thrown another snowball at her.

"Derek!" she said loudly, and then lobbed her creation at him. It hit Derek squarely in the face and Casey laughed in triumph, seeing his disbelieved expression and red nose.

The two of them had their own private snowball fight, laughing and beating a path through the thick snow. In their backyard, the sun out, the rest of the family away, Casey had fun with Derek.

They both paused for a moment to catch their breath. George and Nora had left with the children to go to the aquarium. Casey and Derek had demurred, saying they had to study, although there was an unconscious, tacit longing for the two of them to be together without the constant interruptions. Casey had actually sat down and opened her maths book, but Derek had come up behind her, and whispered in her ear,

"C'mon Case, you're not really going to study?"

She had put down her pencil and turned to him. "What else are we supposed to do?" she asked him. "Besides, you really should open a book, we've got finals coming up."

"Casey," he'd said, still in that quiet, almost seductive voice that gave Casey chills that had nothing to do with the weather, "you study too much. Let's have some fun. We'll go out in the snow for just a little bit."

Casey, who hadn't really been looking forward to practicing calculus anyway, was about to give in. "Just for a little bit?"

Derek nodded. Casey leapt up from her chair and almost pranced to the door, where she waited for Derek to catch up.

And now here they were, out in the snow, their toes and fingers freezing even through the boots and gloves, their cheeks pink and their coats wet, having the most enjoyable time with each other they'd had in a very long time. In a way it almost reminded Casey of that disastrous weekend they had thrown a party, when she and Derek were locked in the bathroom, but this time there was something markedly different.

Derek started chasing Casey around the snow and she shrieked in enjoyment, but then she tripped and Derek fell on top of her. They fought with each other in the snow, rolling around, rubbing snow in each other's faces and any other exposed part.

The cold air did nothing, however, to cool Casey's body, which was fiery from the pressure of Derek on top of her, Derek so close to her. And Derek felt he either had to leave very soon or stuff snow down his pants, neither of which was an attractive option.

So, when they took another break from the fighting, and when her heaving chest was under his, and her face lovely and animated from the cold, and her eyes shining with expectation, Derek did the only thing he could do.

He closed the tiny distance between them and kissed her.

His cold lips met hers, and the snow started to fall again. Her eyes slipped closed and she opened herself to him.

And Casey felt that this was right.

……………………………………

**A/N: **_Yay so finally some action for Casey and Derek! They've still got a while to go before their relationship really takes off but trust me…all they really needed was to get started. And from there, everything will follow. Quite quickly, in fact. So, can I see some reviewer action please? I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks a lot for reading! This is actually something I enjoy writing because Derek and Casey come so naturally to me, it's a little odd. But as long as you all think it's good then I'm happy too!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

…………………………………………………

**January 8, 2007**

Casey felt a wonderful sense of liberation since her and Derek's kiss two days before.

She smiled in pleasure. For once not overthinking or overanalyzing, she was actually enjoying herself with Derek. The way she felt when he was with her, and the way he held her, and the way he spoke to her: these took precedence in her thoughts.

"_Miss_ McDonald, if you would care to rejoin your class here on earth," a dry voice interrupted her pleasant musings. Casey looked up sharply to see Mr. Ryan's lined face staring at her with raised eyebrows. "I'm sure your own thoughts are far more interesting than the invasion of Poland by the Third Reich, but I doubt they're so interesting you'd rather fail the test."

Casey flushed slightly and mumbled an apology; she picked up her pen and poised it to take notes while Mr. Ryan thankfully abandoned her and continued. None of her neighbors smirked, knowing that they might be in for one of the history teacher's caustic set-downs; after all, if Casey, Mr. Ryan's favorite, wasn't immune to them, how could they possibly be?

But Casey soon drifted off again and still moved dreamily even when the bell rang. "Casey, what's with you?" Emily asked as Casey slowly packed up her books. "You're so…spacey, and happy…?"

Casey smiled at her friend and slung her bag over her shoulder. "What, can't I be happy? After all, winter break _is_ over and I'm glad to be back in school. You know me, Em." The lie sounded far too exaggerated to be entirely believable, but Emily was willing to accept that her best friend was _very_ weird and just let her be happy.

Emily changed the subject as they walked down the hallway for lunch when Casey felt a strong hand grip her upper arm and start pulling her away. "Emily—I'll be right there," she called, going along with Derek.

Derek walked swiftly and silently on, never loosening his grip, Casey stumbling to keep up. After a few minutes he opened a locked door with a key he pulled from a pocket and led her almost roughly inside the dark room. The moment he had closed to the door he pushed her up against what felt like a shelf and kissed her as deeply as he could.

Washed away by these alien but immeasurably amazing sensations, Casey did not wonder where she was or why he was doing this, only concentrated on Derek. His hands were on her waist, now on the small of her back, pushing her closer to him, trying to join their souls. Casey's own hands were in his hair, around his neck, splayed on his back, imprinting him on her so she would never forget how he felt.

Unknowable minutes of kissing later, Derek finally released Casey, whose lips felt pleasantly swollen, but unsatiated. She took a bare moment in the dark to consider the outlines of his face with her fingers, then pressed her mouth to his and kissed him with a passion Derek hazily thought he didn't know she had.

Finally, however, they both broke apart, panting slightly, full with the taste of each other.

"Derek," she whispered, "where are we?"

He shrugged. "The janitor's broom closet."

"How romantic." She giggled; Derek was enchanted.

"Case," he said in an intense, quiet voice, "I couldn't stay away." Their bodies were still pressed together. "I just couldn't. I had to feel you again."

The two of them, after that, seemed to feel that the time for words was past, and spent the rest of the lunch hour entwined with each other, the syntax of their movements forming sentences of thought.

…

_Casey, _

_Where the heck were you during lunch? And what did Derek want!_

She scanned the note Emily had passed her during their final period, debating what to say. Emily had seen Derek pulling her along. But what could she write back? _Dear Em, I was making out with my hot stepbrother, and Derek wanted me badly_? No, for too many reasons to name, the least of which was that Emily still had a crush on Derek.

_Em,_

_Sorry I abandoned you! I'll buy you a smoothie tomorrow. I got caught up with a teacher after that. Derek wanted me to do something for him—like cover for him, one of his dumb ideas. You know how he is._

Vaguely aware that she was babbling on paper, she folded it up back into a square and discreetly passed it to Emily. A few moments later, this missive arrived:

_Casey,_

_You've been acting really weird lately. But okay. And my favorite flavor is mango._

And that was that.

……………………………….

**February 10, 2007**

"Come with me," Derek whispered in Casey's ear as he passed her in the hallway.

She immediately turned and went with him, walking so that their arms just barely brushed against each other. Casey didn't ask where he was taking her. She looked forward to these little adventures, the times when she put her whole trust in Derek and he took her away from her usual reserved self. That was one of the many things she realized she was beginning to love about Derek.

He led her out of the school, into the crisp winter air. Casey shivered at the sudden shock from warm corridor to freezing outside, despite the fluffy coat that protected her. She sat in his car, and he drove away from the school.

"Derek, we can't skip school," she protested, although more mildly than she would have liked. Just sitting with him in his car was enough to start her fingertips tingling with anticipation.

"You, Casey, have never experienced the thrill of playing hooky," he said, glancing at her. "Don't you want to live a little dangerously?" he added, with a sort of seductive note in his voice.

"I already am," she said, and now the anticipation spread to her toes. They were quiet for the rest of the car ride, until finally Derek stopped at the nature park.

They got out, Casey taking a deep breath. They immediately clasped hands, as close to each other as their lateral position would allow, and started walking down the path. Casey sighed in pleasure. The trees were bare, but snow decorated the ground and the branches. The river they walked along wasn't entirely frozen, and a few lonely ducks gamely attempted to continue swimming across it, although they ended up waddling when they came to the icy bits.

Casey giggled at the sight of the ducks' tails swaying back and forth. "Awww, look at the duckies!" she said, and pointed. Derek didn't look but instead pressed her against a tree and kissed her furiously. It was always her giggle that got Derek. That beautiful, delicate sound—he loved it and he loved it more when he caused it.

Every time they kissed it was more passionate than the last. The more time they spent together the more they came to feel for each other. If Casey felt liberated by him, Derek felt complete with her. Derek couldn't believe his amazing good luck at having Casey, at feeling so not alone when she was with him. As they kissed Derek prayed that he would never lose her.

"Never leave me," he whispered intensely into her ear, as their kisses subsided into sweet pecks. "Swear to me, Casey, that you'll never let me go. Never."

Casey felt tears in her eyes. They left in search of a better home in Derek's hair but she nodded, pulling him closer. "I promise, Derek, I promise you, I'll never leave you," she murmured. Derek's arms tightened even more around her and they stood like that for a long time, longing for their souls to merge.

…

They came home at the normal time, both feeling something they hadn't on their ride to the park. It was something entirely pleasant and completely new.

Casey and Derek ate a snack, waited for the children to come home. They said hi to Edwin and Lizzie, who, Casey noticed, had also been becoming closer and closer. Then Casey told them that she and Derek were going upstairs to study.

This was the new routine of their lives. Upstairs in Derek's room, they would climb into bed together, not doing anything, but laying with each other and talking. Casey was quickly realizing that Derek was a better friend than Emily, and she was confiding more and more of her thoughts and every day activities with Derek. And although Derek and Sam got along very well, something had changed in their relationship, and Derek felt that Casey _got_ him in a way that Sam didn't.

Of course, if Derek was up for discussing video games or hot girls, he would always call Sam, and Casey always went shopping with Emily. But they bared their inner hearts to each other, those afternoons spent together. Eventually, after a few hours, they would get up and actually do their homework—that was still mostly Casey.

"I'm so proud of you, Derek," she said a couple of days later, when he brought home his most recent grade report. She rewarded him with an amazing kiss and the sunny smile that Derek found attracted him more than her giggle. "You're getting to be quite the intellectual."

Derek gave a small smile, and said, "Don't tell anyone? I've got a reputation to uphold."

"As though anyone cares about your marks," she teased him. "Besides, I haven't anyone to tell."

"Well, there's always Emily…"

Casey snorted. "You know she doesn't care about your brains—and if I told her you know it'd be all over the evening news by that night."

What Derek didn't say that he had started to pull up his grades because of her. He knew that she would not go for a brainless fellow. And this impressed her, showed her who he really was and how smart he was, impressed her enough to accept him. He didn't tell her this was only the latest in all the things he had done for her—even before, when he hadn't known how he felt about Casey. Like the time he called Frank to cover for her, and the time he'd asked Sam to keep her from embarrassing herself.

It was only looking back that he realized that everything he'd done was to be closer to her.

At dinner time, they sat together, their free hands on the table, pinkies barely, tremblingly, touching.

After a few minutes of silent eating, George spoke. "Derek, is everything…is everything normal?" he asked, obviously unsure of how to put whatever he was trying to say.

Derek looked up sharply, and quickly withdrew his hand from where it was next to Casey's. "Yeah Dad, I'm fine. Why?"

George took an extra large bite of chicken and took a gulp of water to buy himself some time. "Well, it's just that we haven't seen you go out with a girl in—about a month and a half or so. And you know you're allowed to date again since you've been so good in your school work."

Derek shrugged. "Not really any other—" he placed his hand on Casey's knee under the table—"girls at school worth my time."

"Well, dear, isn't that a little egocentric?" Nora asked, clearly shocked.

"Actually no, since I'm not looking for a girl whose micromini skirt is longer than her supply of brain cells," Derek said through a mouthful of green beans.

"That's quite mature," commented Nora, now impressed.

"He is seventeen, after all," George reminded his wife.

Casey squeezed Derek's hand under the table.

……………………………………………

**March 12, 2007**

The distinctive, hollow _clack_ of dangerously long, fake fingernails drumming on his locker door, interrupted Derek from his emerging fantasy of him and Casey. He looked up, still slightly dazed, a book in his hand, to see a very tall (because of her high heels), very slim (because she never ate), blonde (because she dyed her hair) he hazily registered as Summer Howser. (Derek's derogatory explanations of Summer's looks were, in fact, entirely false. She was one of those rare people blessed with height, an impeccable figure, and naturally colored hair).

"Hey," Summer said flirtatiously, with a toss of her perfectly straight blonde hair.

Derek took her in, knowing this was perhaps the most gorgeous girl in the school—but only, of course, leagues after Casey, universes after Casey. But he just couldn't find himself attracted to the almost scarily beautiful girl.

He gave a courteous nod, looking down and with a show of great care setting his book inside the bag. "What's up?" he said, politely, trying not to encourage her. But Summer seemed to have missed this particular hint and lightly placed her hand on his arm.

"I was wondering," she said, still in that flirty voice, batting her eyelashes (which, Derek noted with surprise, actually moved, caked as they were with mascara).

She paused, expectantly, glanced at Derek with blue eyes whose cornflower color didn't seem entirely convincing. He wondered idly if they were color contacts, or if they also had a prescription along with tint. "You were wondering?" he prompted, still icily polite.

Summer giggled. So he was playing coy, was he? Derek thought that he'd heard Summer's same formulaic giggle hundreds of times before (Casey's miraculous gurgle, on the other hand, was entirely natural and spontaneous). "I was _wondering,_" she repeated, "if you wanted to take me out tomorrow night. We could get McDougal's for dinner, maybe Voccara's for dessert?"

_How long have you been planning this?_ Derek thought, slightly scared. He wouldn't be surprised if she said that she already had—

"I already have reservations," she said. Her hand moved up and down his arm. "And you've got a special seat: next to me."

Derek gently twisted his arm away from her. "Sorry, I'm—I can't." He gave her another polite smile, then walked away, shutting his locker and spinning it closed.

Summer stared after him, seething. Her face was turning a particularly unflattering shade of tomato, although her knuckles were turning white. She fished an incredibly slim, bright pink cell phone out of the large designer tote she carried over one shoulder, and furiously scrolled through her address book. When she found the name she wanted she dialed impatiently, and waited for her friend to answer. _No one says no to Summer Howser_, she thought angrily.

"Hey Nina? Want to know something very interesting about Derek Venturi?"

…

The next day at school, Derek wondered vaguely what all the giggling and whispering and pointing was about, but didn't give it much thought until he met up with Sam in the morning as usual.

Derek offered his hand for their ritual handshake, but Sam threw him a wary look. "Dude, you sure you don't want to kiss me or something?"

"No, you're not pretty enough for me," Derek shot back sarcastically, but noticing the alarm that suffused Sam's countenance, he said quickly, "Seriously, why the hell would I want to kiss you?"

"Because you're…because you…because you play for the other team!" Sam hissed after looking around carefully.

"Play for the other team?" Derek repeated blankly, and then the meaning became clear. He started to laugh. "Good joke man, seriously, you really had me going…." He trailed off as he saw that Sam wasn't laughing along with him.

"You've got to be shitting me," said Derek. "Dude, you _know_ I'm not gay."

"That's not what _they're_ saying," Sam said, jerking a thumb out towards the direction of the hallway.

Ah. So that was the reason for all the pointing and whispering.

But who the hell would think that he, Derek Venturi, Casanova's rival, would be….

_Summer_, thought Derek wearily. Obviously not a girl who took to rejection very well.

"Look, dude, it was all just a dumb rumor," Derek said. Sam didn't look entirely convinced and Derek sighed. "I said no to Summer Howser yesterday, she must have wanted revenge…."

"You….you…you said _no _to Summer Howser!" demanded Sam, the brief ambiguity about Derek's sexual orientation completely forgotten in this new piece of intelligence. Sam's disbelief that Derek would turn down the hottest girl in school—in the whole province, probably—took precedence over a rumor Sam knew was not true.

Although if he _were _gay, it would certainly help explain _how the hell he could have rejected Summer Howser_!

…

"Have you heard what they've been saying about me?" Derek demanded of Casey, the moment they were back home.

Casey lifted completely innocent chocolate eyes to his face, which was embarrassed and angry, and said, "No, I thought our school mates really did have more important things to discuss."

Derek ignored this barb, and continued. "They've been saying that I'm….that I…that I'm…I'm…gay!" he burst out, almost unable to form the word.

"Really?" Casey said, and Derek thought she might be mocking him, the way her eyebrows knit together but mischief sparkled in her orbits. "Well, I think there's a simple way to find out," she said.

"Which is?"

"Kiss me," Casey said simply, and Derek was only too happy to do so.

After a few minutes, Casey sighed happily. "Nope, I think I can say with one-hundred percent certainty that you are not gay. Although," she added thoughtfully, "human error may have interfered with the results of the first study. I think we need to conduct another trial."

Derek was only too happy to agree.

…

Later that evening in Derek's bed, as they were laughing and talking, Derek thought that he'd never seen this side to Casey, this carefree, flirty girl whose eyes were always twinkling. Of course, she still had her flaws: a tendency to overthink, get too stressed, and even an edge of arrogance. But where last year, that was all he could see, those aspects of her personality were now the ones most distant to him. (Derek couldn't know that it was only with him—and only because of him—that Casey was able to let go and be completely natural).

They had never felt more content in their lives, never felt happier. If George and Nora, or Emily or Sam noticed anything, they never mentioned it. Emily had given up months ago, and George and Nora were just oblivious. Especially since they spent more and more time together studying.

Which they were, after a fashion. Just not necessarily studying school subjects.

Casey sighed after a wonderful round of passionate kisses the next day during lunch. They had expanded their secret niches to include the philosophy classroom, the third-floor corridor elevator bank, and another broom closet.

"Derek," she said pensively, as he held her, "I wonder if we're doing too much of this."

"Too much of what?" asked Derek, confused.

She gestured vaguely. "This," she said, blushing and unsure of how to mention it. "It seems like kissing is all we do."

"Yes, during school hours," Derek replied, panicking. There she was, being all girly and feminine and whatnot, saying she needed to talk more because she wanted to be respected for her mind as well as her body. _But she knows that already_, Derek thought, _she knows I'm not using her, she knows how much I love her, all of her…._

"During the evenings when we lay in my bed together," and here Derek actually blushed slightly, "I think that's mostly talking."

Casey took a moment to think that over, but then seemed to accept his reasoning. "I know," she said quietly, against his mouth, "It's just I don't want this to take over—as great as it is."

"It won't," Derek assured her. "You know, with any other girl I would have just broken up with her if she wanted to talk more."

"I feel really special now," commented Casey sarcastically. But by now the sarcasm and even the pointed barbs they regularly exchanged had turned into more affectionate battles as opposed to outright war.

There were a few moments of silence, then Casey said, slowly, "You should…you should go out with other girls."

"Casey, there are no other girls after you," Derek whispered sincerely.

She shook her head slightly. "That's sweet," she said, "but what I mean is—Summer started that ridiculous rumor about you because you rejected her."

"No one's going around calling you a lesbian and you haven't had a boyfriend since Sam," remarked Derek, being typically male and dense (or so Casey thought).

"But no one _expects_ me to have boyfriends," she explained patiently. Derek opened his mouth to reply but Casey placed her hand on it to shush him. "You're like Don Juan's protégé: you're _supposed_ to be out there picking up girls."

"But I really don't _want _to, Case, I don't care what they say about me." Casey was almost surprised at the intensity and loyalty Derek was showing and it swelled her heart. He showed his true self to her, because he could trust her with it, while the mask he wore to the rest of the world—and, at first, to Casey also—was that of a heartbreaker.

"At least go to the prom with someone," Casey asked him.

"You," Derek said instantly.

She was starting to lose her patience. "I'm not worth you losing your precious reputation," she told him sharply.

"You're an infinite amount of times more precious than my reputation!" Derek shot back.

"Stop being so good to me, you're making this so much harder," she told him pleadingly. "You don't have to do anything with your date. But I couldn't bear thinking that it was my fault you're an even bigger loser than Fat Pat."

"No, Case, you're the one being too good to me," he said softly, and he took her in a beautiful kiss.

…………………………………….

**A/N: **_Romance coming along too fast? I hope not—I had kind of felt that they've been repressing themselves for so long, everything is coming out and propelling them forward. Gosh, I wish I had a Derek in my life….Hahahaha. Hope you all are enjoying this story so far and thanks a lot for reading! It really means a lot to me. Until next chapter then!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

…

April 6, 2007

"I can't believe this," Casey sighed happily to Paul. The older man had noticed a marked change in Casey since the beginning of the year, but Casey was playing coy. He had employed every tactic he knew to try and find out what could have turned Casey from the hyper-stressed due-for-a-heart-attack-before-she-was-30 girl she was but six months ago into….

Paul couldn't exactly put a name on it. He just knew she was _different._ He also had a hypothesis that he had been slowly forming, and decided this was the time to test it.

"You can't believe what?" prodded Paul. Usually that expression ("I can't believe this!) is paired with angry glances and clenched fists, but Casey's eyes were sparkling and her whole face seemed to glow.

"Oh—nothing," Casey said after a moment, pulled from her daydreams. "It's just everything is going so well, that's all."

"Hm," nodded Paul. He opened his hands wider. "Did…did something happen to Derek?"

"Derek?" she repeated quickly, her eyes widening slightly. "Why would this have anything to do with Derek?"

Paul shrugged. "He was the one you always complained about, until the beginning of the year, and now you're so…happy."

Casey gave a laugh which sounded nervous to her, although perhaps that eluded her counsellor. "I'm just a happy person, that's all," she said. "Tutoring Derek has been a terrific way to let go of a lot of my stress." That, at least, was true. Although in some ways now, it was Derek doing the tutoring….

"Considering a career as a teacher?" Paul asked, momentarily diverted from his original task.

She smiled. "Maybe! Anything's possible, isn't it?"

"Casey, are you dating someone?" Paul asked abruptly. When she had been pining over Sam—even when she was with him—she hadn't seemed like this. But then again she and Sam hadn't lasted very long….

This question, however, sapped the good humor from Casey's face. "Why is it," she demanded, "that if a girl is happy, it must be because of a guy?"

"No—Casey—I didn't mean—"

"Well, I'm not, anyway," Casey murmured, after a moment. She raised penitent eyes to Paul's face.

There was another pause, during which the bell rang. Paul offered a smile. "I'm glad to see you relaxed, Casey," he said sincerely. Casey returned the smile and then left.

…

"I hate being secret," Casey said to Derek later.

He laughed. "I thought that's what made it exciting."

Casey wondered how everything that came out of his mouth could possibly sound so seductive, so…sexy. "It's been four months to the day," she said.

Derek recalled that day perfectly. The snow, Casey's eyes, her lips, her taste, their kiss. "Only four months?" he said thoughtfully.

"I feel like I've been with you forever," she told him.

"Stay with me forever, then," Derek said, catching her hand and holding it close to him.

She gave a small smile. "I already promised I'd never leave you," she reminded Derek softly.

"I know," Derek whispered. He was quiet a moment, before he said slowly, "It's still a little hard for me to believe that you would…."

Casey drew back from him. "You doubt me?"

Derek shook his head. "No. But I can't believe that someone as amazing as you would want to stay with someone like me." He took her hand again, and lifted it to his chest. She felt his strong heartbeat underneath her fingers. "You're here," he told her, "in every beat, and in every breath I take."

Looking into his face, Casey couldn't doubt his sincerity.

…………………………………..…

May 12, 2007

Just pretend she's Casey.

C'mon, Derek, you've done harder things before.

Summer Howser was dancing with him, slowly, in time to the music. Derek's eyes were closed so that he couldn't see her blonde head in front of him; he tried to block out the sick feeling in his stomach.

At Casey's insistence, Derek had asked Summer to the prom. "I trust you," Casey had said simply, giving him a smile. Derek knew that she didn't like it, but that she was sacrificing her personal feelings for his position in the school.

For the millionth time, his hands on Summer's slight hips, he cursed the circumstance that made him Casey's stepbrother. Because although he would never have met her otherwise, it was because of that she couldn't be the one in his arms tonight. He hadn't known it was possible for the human heart to hold as much love as he felt for Casey, and Derek wanted the whole world to know.

He and Casey had so far avoided the subject of their life after high school. After all, junior year was only finishing up; they had another year together. For that matter, they hadn't even thought about summer, when there would be no excuse for Casey to spend endless hours in Derek's bedroom.

"Derek," Summer whined. "You're spacing."

"Sorry," he muttered. She very obviously flipped her hair back and smiled. Derek, taking the hint, then said, "You look gorgeous tonight."

Summer giggled. "And you," she said playfully, pulling his tuxedo jacket closer together, "look _very_ handsome." Through that maneuver she had managed to bring herself into even greater proximity with Derek. Hating himself for doing it, he closed his eyes and gently brushed his lips against Summer's.

'I trust you,' is what Casey had said. _Casey. Casey. Caseycaseycaseycaseycaseycasey…._Her name ran a constant mantra through his head as he tried to avoid kissing Summer too closely.

…

Casey rose up to greet him when he came back inside, throwing her book aside on the couch. "How was it?" she asked him, smiling warmly. She'd missed him. Derek responded by pulling her into a deep embrace, hugging her tight to his body.

"I love you so much," he whispered in her ear. Casey kissed him, lightly, and took his hand in hers. He had never looked more handsome to her then, his tuxedo setting off his form admirably, his eyes bright and intense, the planes of his face strong and reliable. She kissed him again and when they broke apart Derek led her upstairs.

It took them quite a few minutes to make it up the short flight, because of necessary stops along the way. But finally they made it into Derek's bedroom and the moment the door was closed Casey was against it, Derek kissing her deeply, moving from her mouth down to her neck, to that soft vulnerable junction of shoulder and throat.

Her knees weakened and she clutched Derek tighter to support herself. He grinned against her collarbone (she could feel his teeth on her skin) and spun her around, leading her to his bed. "Much better," he almost growled, as he continued his ministrations.

It was when Casey's shirt was completely off and he was down to the last few buttons of his that Derek all of a sudden stopped. He was breathing heavily, trying desperately to control his thoughts; Casey's eyes were closed, and he could see her chest moving up and down rapidly, in time to her shallow breathing. She let out a small moan of disappointment and her eyes gently fluttered to a half-open position.

"Not like this, Casey," he said softly. "Not yet." He was more than ready, as his body amply proved. But he cared too much about Casey to force her.

Casey's eyes slowly widened, and she took in the clothes that had been scattered around the bed. A blush rose to her face as she became conscious of her own nakedness and she hastily wrapped the sheet around herself. "Thank you, Derek," she whispered, trying to ignore the pounding in her heart and the pit of her stomach that wanted more, knowing she would regret it later.

"I promise I'll wait until any time you want to," Derek said. "We won't go this far, even, if you don't want to." He smiled; she returned it, and that was enough reason for Derek to abstain until the end of the time.

"Derek," Casey said presently, after some moments' time. "I'm scared," she confessed, turning to him.

"I swear I won't force you," he replied, a little bit annoyed. After all, hadn't he just told her so? (The annoyance came more from the desire still coursing through his body than the true feelings of his heart, however).

"It's not that," she said. "It's just that everything is so perfect. I'm scared it won't last. I'm not talking about our emotions," she added quickly. "But…," she trailed off.

"It's too much like in the movies—"

"—all those teen romance books, where we love each other so much now—"

"—but in just a few years they realize—"

"—they really were just kids—"

"Casey," Derek said, "I understand you."

"I know," she told him, smiling slightly.

…

Casey got up, pulled her shirt back on, and planted her lips chastely on Derek's forehead. Her uneasiness was gone, replaced by a determination to live every moment with Derek in the present. The future would come, and deal whatever blows it wished, but she would ready to face it, she and Derek together.

………………………………..…

May 23, 2007

Casey and Derek, so far, hadn't come across any obstacles in their relationship. Aside from the fact that they were related and had to keep their love a secret, of course. But now, with school almost over, and summer vacation stretching ahead, the two were deep in thought on how to meet each other without seeming suspicious.

"I've never been more disappointed that school's over," Derek commented wryly. Although their constant fighting had decreased—which George and Nora attributed to a combination of Casey's tutoring and a maturation on both their parts—they had largely been able to escape detection because of the pretense of Casey's helping him, allowing them to closet themselves away in Derek's room for hours on end.

Casey all of a sudden groaned and smacked her palm against her forehead. "How could I have forgotten?" she demanded of Derek, who was eyeing her in some alarm.

"Faulty brain cells?" he suggested warily.

She turned to him with a beaming smile. "Entrance exams," she breathed. Those two simple words communicated everything to Derek. "We have to revise for them this summer."

"You're a genius," Derek said, kissing her lightly.

………………………………

November 11, 2018

"It's not just me—I know, but you know too, Casey…or should I call you Catherine Earnshaw?"

Casey shook her head gently. "You still remember that?"

Derek took a step closer to her, and said quietly, "I remember every second of our time together."

"Fine, but I'm _nothing_ like her," Casey protested. She knew as well as he did that he was right. Catherine, after all, had left her true love to marry someone else; Linton promised Catherine wealth and social position, even though she loved Heathcliff. And here, Casey was marrying Michael, out of insecurity that she would never find someone else (after her stepbrother, of course) who would love her as Michael did, and also as a last-ditch attempt to try and block Derek completely from her life.

"Casey," Derek said in a low voice, and she read his emotions in those two syllables. Was it possible he still loved her?

……………………………………..

September 4, 2007

Casey opened her copy of _Wuthering Heights_ as she lay with her head in Derek's lap, while he sat upright working on another assignment. The classic was their newest assignment in Senior Literature. She quickly became absorbed in the novel, which she had never read before, and Derek continued his history reading in silence also—a companionable, comfortable silence, the kind that feels better than a conversation.

The three months of summer had passed quickly. For the two of them it became of paramount importance to see each other. Casey would spend long hours during the night in Derek's room, talking to him until the sun was about to rise, before she slipped off to her own bed. They invented outings with Emily or Sam, and instead met each other.

Casey had enjoyed the feeling that they were actually dating. One night they would go to the park; the next out to dinner; after that to the ice-skating rink, or any of the hundred other places that Derek knew. During the afternoon, they told their parents that they were studying for their entrance exams, and would sometimes take their books out to the coffeeshop, or the playground, just for variety.

Not much studying ever got done during these sessions, but Casey considered it time well-spent nonetheless.

But the weather started to chill, and school started again. The anticipation of it being their senior year had settled lightly around them; both were conscious of it, and of things that needed to be Talked About, and soon, but for now they were just happy in being with each other.

"They're just like us, Derek," Casey said after an hour's worth of reading. Derek looked down into her face and she pointed to the book. "Heathcliff was Catherine's adoptive brother but he loved her and she loved him too."

"And what happened to them?"

"She married Edgar," Casey said. "Heathcliff was below her station; they wouldn't have been allowed to get married." She looked up at him and her eyes were slightly scared. "Derek…."

Derek pressed his index finger to her lips, quieting her, and looked at her seriously with his brown eyes. "Don't talk about that stuff," he said in a low voice, "not yet."

After a slight pause, Casey asked, her head turned away from him, "Should we…should we tell Mom and George?"

Derek choked on his own saliva. "Are you crazy?" he demanded, moving his knees so that Casey was forced to sit up and look at him. "_Tell them_? It'll be a great conversation, won't it, 'Hey Dad, hey Nora, just wanted to let you know that I have been _dating my step-sister_ for about a year now, when's dinner?'"

Casey shot him a glare. "I don't need your sarcasm right now!" she said. "It was an honest question."

"And what do you think they'd say?" asked Derek, not any softened. " 'Congratulations you two, we wish you very happy, let's take a family picture'?"

"Well maybe—"

"There _are_ no maybes!" Derek said loudly. "Don't you understand how angry they would be? Casey I don't know if we are even allowed to be together or not. I don't give a damn about the law but I do care about my family. _Including_ Nora and Lizzie."

"So do I!" Casey protested. "Derek, we've been together for almost a year. We've only got six more months before our school is over. Then what? Are we going to attend the same university? Will we still be together? Will we still love each other?"

"You know that I will—"

"I'd like to believe that, Derek, I really would, which is exactly why I'm bringing this up," said Casey. "I know it may sound a little silly, but I am seventeen, and I know I want to spend my life with you…even with your dirty laundry scattered all over and your messiness. But how can we be if Mom and George don't know about us?"

Derek was quiet for a moment, thinkng. "I don't like to say it, Casey, but we're young…what if our feelings change? Then we will have gotten into a crapload of trouble for nothing. Let's not think about it for now." As Casey opened her mouth to reply he said quickly, "Please?"

Casey could not resist the warm brown eyes flecked with gold. Derek did not ask for much in general, and slightly uneasily, she agreed, "Okay, that's good too. We'll just…think about this later." She leaned over and gave him a light kiss, then settled back down in his lap and opened her book.

"This girl," Casey commented presently, shaking her head slightly. "Catherine Earnshaw. How can she just turn her back on her true love? Just for money, for jewels? Heathcliff was the one for her, and they both knew it, and yet Catherine was too proud to marry him, and in the end Heathcliff comes back a gentleman anyway." She paused.

"I'll never be like that."

……………………………….

October 30, 2007

"I'M IN!"Casey screamed in delight as she ripped open the thick package that came for her in the mail.

Nora gave a huge smile and hugged her daughter tightly. "I'm so proud of you, honey!" she said, as she too examined the acceptance letter from University of British Columbia. "That's one of the best schools in the country!"

"Good job, Casey," George said sincerely, wrapping her in a hug when Nora had released her. Edwin and Lizzie came forward to offer their own congratulations, both of them filled with the sort of overflow of pride that happens in a close family.

"Now we've only got Derek to worry about," said George slightly anxiously, riffling through the other mail, hunting for a clue as to Derek's future. "Hmm. Not even a rejection letter. I know his marks have been improving—thanks to you, of course," he added as an aside to Casey. "And you two applied for uni together. Are you sure he sent in his applications and everything?"

Casey nodded. "I checked them all," she reassured him. "But remember that this is an early decision…Most decisions won't come until later. Don't worry, George," Casey said as cheerfully as she could, trying to hide that odd twist in her stomach.

_"Don't think about me when applying, Casey," _Derek had told her firmly, when the time to apply had first loomed. He knew that even with the dramatic change in his grades, his one year of high marks could not make up for two years of poor ones; and he also knew that as painful as it would be it would just not be right to keep Casey back. He had told her as much.

"You are capable of so much, you're so smart," he'd said to her. "Don't limit yourself because of me. We'll end up going to different schools, I know that. But there will always be hols, and we'll see each other enough."

Casey had protested. "Derek, I'm sure you can get into one of these schools," she had said, desperate for him to believe in himself. Her soul was torn in two between her childhood dream schools and the young man she'd come to love so deeply. Her list of universities to apply to not only included Canada's top ten but also the United States's. If she rejected any of them to go to the admittedly second-tier school Derek was bound to get into however, George and Nora would definitely ask Questions. Of the sort that she and Derek weren't particularly interested in answering.

"Casey, I know I can't get into your schools. Don't tell me I can. I'm okay with it, really," he had continued, still in that firm tone. Derek had never really used that voice with her, and Casey immediately realized that this was as close to an order as he would ever give her, and that it behooved her to follow. "Think about me too, okay? You know how guilty I'd feel if I knew that you turned down all these top schools just to stay with me?"

Casey was quiet; she hadn't thought about Derek at all.

"It's not like I don't want to be with you or something," he said, softer now. "And you know we'll be back for breaks. It's not as though we're going too far from home, right?"

And so now Casey bounded into Derek's room, absolutely ecstatic. Derek disregarded the way his heart sank slightly at the prospect of being away from Casey because the joy that sparkled in her face more than made up for anything else.

Fifteen minutes later: "…and they've got this _massive_ library," Casey said at top speed, eagerly reading the informational booklet the university had sent, and showing Derek a glossy picture of the library in springtime.

Derek, who was filled with nothing more than loving support for his Casey, had nonetheless started to tune her out after the first ten minutes or so of her gushing about her first acceptance. "Terrific," he said in a slightly colorless voice, managing a smile. Casey was not fooled and folded her booklet with a small sigh.

"I'll miss everyone though," she said. Somehow the reality of her going to college the next year hadn't yet sunk in. She couldn't imagine ever living away from George and her mother's cooking, Marti's little-girl giggle, Edwin's girl troubles, and Lizzie's athletics. And of course, away from Derek…away from his kisses, his smiles, his warm hands, his understanding, his voice.

Derek shushed her with a light kiss.

……………………………

November 11, 2018

"Okay, okay, so maybe I _am_ a little like Catherine Earnshaw," Casey admitted reluctantly. She gave a small, humorless smile which flashed only momentarily on her face. "Here I wasn't even sure you'd read the book…."

Derek gave a derisive noise, something like a snort. "That's not the point Casey, and you know it," he said.

"What else was I supposed to do, Derek?" Casey asked him sharply, turning suddenly to face him more fully. "After that day at the airport you never called, never even e-mailed. And you never came back here. Was I supposed to just wait for you, wait for someone whom I wasn't even sure still loved me?"

"You should have waited just like I waited for you!" shouted Derek.

Casey gave a disbelieving click of her tongue. "_You_ waited for _me?_ I honestly thought you hated me, Derek! You were so angry that day. You were yelling so loudly."

"So the moment you went off to school you got together with the first guy who asked you?" demanded Derek. "_That's_ how you dealt with all your grief?"

"I never even had a boyfriend until I met Michael!" Casey protested. "And _that,_ for your information, was in my second year of law school!" She shook her head. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this," she muttered. "_You_ were probably off with as many girls as you could get, just like you always used to be. How many were there, Derek, how many blonde bimbos did you find to hook up with? Or was it so many you don't even remember?"

Derek made an angry motion towards her, and for a slight second she was convinced that he had come to slap her. He, however, fisted his hands and violently stuck them in his pockets, as though to tamp just that very urge; and continued in a very low, tight voice.

"That's not very fair, Casey," he said, his tone unnaturally even. "I already said I waited for you."

"Well it's a little late for all that now, isn't it," said Casey. "You wait until the night before my _wedding day_? How did you even know about it, anyway?"

Derek shrugged slightly. "Marti told me," he said simply.

This caught Casey off-guard; she hadn't realized that he still talked to any member of the family although it made sense that he would at least keep in touch with his biological family. There was more silence. Both were more angry than they had ever been in their entire lives with each other. The anger was only more amplified by their hurt and their existant, barely-dormant desires for each other.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**__**

**_A/N:_**_ Well I finally updated…after almost a year. I'm really surprised if anyone is still following this; if you are, thanks a lot! Please tell me what you think, and I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!_


	7. Chapter 7

**November 11, 2018**

…

The air beween them was charged with a volatile mix of anger and desire and love. Looking at Derek, in this, her old bedroom, brought back vividly every memory she frankly had never tried to repress. Derek on top of her, Derek without his shirt, Derek laughing.

"Marti told you," Casey repeated softly. "I see." She bit her lower lip. "You know if you had stayed in contact with us this wouldn't have been a surprise."

"What else would it have been, Casey?" said Derek, his eyes still narrowed. "Do you think if we hadn't fought on that day at the airport, that we would have stayed together? That ten years later we would get married, just like you are right now, and that George and Nora would give their approval?"

Casey threw up her hands in frustration. "Then what the hell is this even about? Why are you here, why do you care? Why did you yell at me that day in the airport?"

There was a long pause, but finally Derek took a deep breath and spoke. "Honestly, Casey," he said in a curt voice, "it was my way of dealing with the pain. Do you think I didn't regret it, the moment I walked off? God, I wanted nothing else but to run back to you and to beg you to forgive me. But your plane was leaving and I was hurting. I thought that if I could make you hate me then I could eventually forget about you. And that you would forget me."

They looked at each other for a long time. Casey saw sincerity in Derek's whole demeanor and she felt her heart unclench. She stepped towards him, and he came nearer to her, and the warm gold flecks in Derek's eyes were close, so close—

Until years' worth of pain, memory, loss, and forgiveness met in the crashing of their lips. Thoughts ended as their bodies reacted as though they were still young inexperienced teenagers. Casey ran her hands through his hair, tried to pull herself even more close to him, his tongue at once familiar and comforting and new and exciting in her thirsty mouth. Nothing mattered to her except this moment, the feel of Derek, how she fit in his arms, the interesting joining of their hips. His hungry hands searched for something in her, over her curved back, slim waist, narrow hips, on her smooth creamy skin and it wasn't enough, just this inadequate exploration. So he pushed her down almost roughly on her old bed and drew away by the merest fraction, her face glowing and more beautiful than he had ever seen, blurry under his love-hazed gaze, her own eyes fluttering barely open.

"Don't…stop," she barely breathed, her lips almost touching his as they formed the words, and that butterfly touch drove him past reason as desire filled him to bursting, torn between urgency and making the moment last.

And then the door slammed shut behind them, snapping them both gaspingly back to reality.

"Ohh….I'm sor—Oh my God!"

It was Marti.

…

**December 12, 2007**

They had gone out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that night. Although no one mentioned anything there was the general underlying feeling that this would be one of the last family events before the two eldest siblings left for uni.

Nora and George had presented Derek with a set of keys, which unlocked a sporty red number with two doors and a retractable top. A reward for his admission into a decent university as well as a birthday gift, they had said. Also, Edwin had said, so he would come back home to visit more often. Derek's eyes met Casey's briefly as the other family members chimed in their agreement. No excuses now, they teased him, not knowing that he had no wish to stay away from home, as long as Casey was there at the same time.

Now it was late at night, and Derek first day of being 18 was almost over. Strangely insomniac, he sat upright on his bed resting against the headboard, reading a car magazine, enjoying the quiet of the house. His door opened almost soundlessly but the slight creak made him start.

It was Casey. She walked towards his bed and Derek immediately noticed something different in her slow strides. She had pulled her hair back into an artful, sexy messy ponytail. Her face seemed to shimmer from the reflection of the light on her glitter eyeshadow and sparkles in her blush; Derek had never seen Casey made up in such way and the look was quite attractive. She wore a tight top with many interesting buttons and a short skirt.

Seeing Derek's mouth open to form a question Casey put a finger to her lips and smiled slightly. She began unbuttoning her shirt as Derek could only watch, fascinated, entranced, eyes widening and organs squirming pleasantly as blood flowed from his brain downwards.

"Happy birthday, Derek," Casey whispered, and she came to kiss him.

And that was the end of thoughts that night, and the end of their childhood forever.

….

**November 11, 2018**

In one bound Casey and Derek were at opposite ends of the small room, Marti's wide scared eyes darting from one to the other as the two tried to control their breathing. Derek smoothed his hair; Casey adjusted her shirt, face heated in a deep blush.

"What's going on here?" Marti said, her voice trembling slightly. "What is this?"

"Marti—I can explain—" Casey started, somewhat lamely, but Derek, without a glance at her, came towards his younger sister.

"Smarti…it's not—"

"Not what it looks like?" Marti finished for him, her voice rising at the end of her sentence. "_Not what it looks like?_ What the hell else would it be? And _don't_ call me that anymore, don't!"

Casey darted a glance at Derek, but he was still looking seriously at the younger girl, whose eyes were bright. His soul ached as he regarded this girl, almost a stranger to him now; she had grown so much, and he hadn't been there for her. He had winced when she rejected his use of her childhood nickname, and once more he mentally kicked himself for leaving his family. Even when he was in his bad-boy phase of early high school, he'd loved Marti, a tiny engaging thing of six, more than he'd ever let anyone know. Silence reigned for the next few moments, as Derek searched Marti's face—the same eyes, the same hair, the same mouth, now set in a face thin and mature.

"How long," Marti said quietly. "How long has this been going on?"

"Just a few seconds—right before you came in," Derek said, hoping for some small hint that Marti was unbending. But she tapped her foot and clucked impatiently.

"I know that's a lie. No one kisses like—like _that_—unless they know each other really well," she countered, her slim arms crossed firmly as she regarded her older brother and sister.

Derek took a breath. "I am going to ignore how you know so much about kissing for the time being," he said, grateful that Casey was for once holding her tongue. In fact Casey instinctively knew that this was not the time for her to speak up; she was witnessing something she felt should be private, the long-delayed reunion of older brother and baby sister, a relationship she knew nothing about but could still appreciate.

Derek took another breath, and licked his lips in a nervous motion. "Marti, I'm going to tell you the truth," he said very quietly, and very seriously. He took a small step towards her, and she did not move away, but reached behind her to shut the door. Derek chanced a glance at Casey, who darted looks between Marti and Derek and almost imperceptibly she nodded.

He licked his lips nervously. How to explain to your sister that you were in love with your step-sister, had been for quite some time? In fact Derek wasn't even sure if he should use the word _love_ when talking about Casey, not when the next day was her wedding….

"Listen, Marti, it's…it's weird, okay, I know," he finally said, running his hands through his hair. "But it's just…God, I don't even know how to explain this."

"You shouldn't be able to explain this, Derek!" Marti said, her eyes still blazing. "This is wrong, she's your _sister_, for God's sake she's MY sister too, I never thought of her as not being part of my family and now what I do I see but you two—And you, Casey," she continued, rounding to face the older girl, "I always looked up to you and not only are making out with someone the day before your wedding, you're cheating on your fiance with your brother!"

"Marti, that's enough!" Derek said sternly, and the girl sullenly turned to his side once more. Casey's gaze remained downcast; he knew she was feeling shame, and regret. "Don't—don't talk to or about Casey like that," he continued more calmly. "And keep your voice down. I will not have anyone else know about this."

Marti challenged him with a glare. "I still want answers," she said.

Derek let out a hard stream of air. "I don't even have all the answers," he said. "And you have to believe me I'm being real honest here. You asked how long this has been going on for—I can tell you that, we've been…" he paused, not knowing a good word to use here, and just deciding to omit the word, the silence speaking for tiself, "since our junior year in high school. Ten years. Except—well not really ten years," he said quickly, "because we never really saw each other during uni." But he'd continued to love her, he could not forget her, the taste of her permanently in his mouth, her aroma floating tantalizingly when he lay alone at night.

Casey realized what he'd meant by those two simple words—ten years, it meant he'd still loved her. "Marti," she said finally, "I'm sorry you had to see this. I…to be honest (I mean there's nothing else I could be, we might as well get everything on the table), I really lov—_liked_, I mean I really liked Derek back then." She blushed to remember their first night together, how she'd dressed up for him, come to his room, how they together clumsily learned the way of the world.

"You can't," Marti said. "You _can't_."

"I know!" Casey and Derek said at the same time. Their eyes met, exchanging words Marti could not hear.

"Me and Casey need to talk," said Derek. "Privately. Don't tell anyone else about this, Marti, please."

"No, Derek!" Marti said loudly. "I'm done doing whatever you tell me to do. How do you think this makes me feel? You show up for the first time in years—_years, _Derek!—and the first thing you do is start sleeping with Casey?"

"Out, Marti!" Derek commanded her angrily, his eyes narrowed. "Me and Casey have way too many things to talk about."

"Fine!" Marti said, stamping her foot and tossing her hair.

"And don't you even THINK about telling a single person what you saw," Derek warned her in a low, dangerous voice. "Don't you even dare." And on that final acrid note Marti flounced out of the room. Derek sighed, ran his hands through his hair yet again, stared in the direction she'd left.

And then silence. Neither knew what to say.

"I don't know what to say," Casey said honestly, sinking down on the edge of her bed. "Derek, I just…I don't know."

Derek gave a small humorless smile. "Neither do I."

"You know," Casey said conversationally, "I never really got over you. Not even after I met Michael. I know it sounds pathetic. But I couldn't forget the way we just met, how you turned my life upside down. God I hated you so much at first…" she laughed quietly.

"I know," he said. "Uni was hell, Case, I can't lie. Especially the first year. But it's like, I yelled at you that day in the airport because it was the only way I knew to deal with the pain, I wanted _us_ to end, before it got too hard to live without you. I was too late."

"So where do we go from here?"

Derek sat on the bed near her. "Yet another thing I don't know. I guess…I stopped thinking about it after a while. I figured you would have moved on. I don't know what made me come here."

An unspoken statement hung in the air. _I still love you_, the atmosphere whispered, words the two couldn't say.

"Are you happy, though, seriously?" asked Derek.

Casey nodded, slowly, her eyes never leaving Derek's face. "I couldn't ask for more," she said quietly. She shook her head. "We were stupid, too stupid back then. When we were kids. We knew, we _knew_ we could never be together…."

"But we still…I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."

"Derek, no, if it weren't for you I wouldn't have been as happy as I was, for those two years," she said. She bit her lip. "I don't know if it was worth it, though," she whispered.

"What do we do?" Derek said. "God I hope Marti hasn't told anyone…I can't imagine what Dad and Nora would say. Or Lizzie or Edwin. And Mike…"

"He doesn't need to know," Casey said quickly. "He's such a great guy, I'll never find anyone to take care of me the way he does. I can't hurt him like this."

"So you're just going to hurt him by loving someone else," Derek said flatly.

"I love Michael a lot, Derek, I really do, and I'm sure I'll grow to love him more and more as we live together," Casey replied. "There's no point in this. Honestly. I know it sounds harsh, but what else can we do?"

"Forget," said Derek resolutely. "We go back to being brother and sister. Or," he said with another humorless smile, "we could run away together. Go to the States, start over, leave behind everyone here."

Casey shook her head. Her brown curls cascading over her shoulders swayed, soft and gentle. "You know we can't hurt Mom and George like that. Imagine how they would feel. How betrayed, and shamed."

"Yeah, I do know," said Derek. He leaned in, and kissed her, for what they both knew would be the last itme. Her lips were as soft as he ever remembered, her hair as silky, her mouth as perfect. "So let's not forget," he whispered, his forhead to hers, "because I could never forget what we had. But we can kind of…put it behind us, right?"

Casey nodded. She would put her memories of Derek into a locked box, hide it within the recesses of her brain, concentrate of making a wonderful life with Michael.

Casey and Derek had been an extraordinary couple with an extraordinary love story.

But not all love stories have storybook endings.

The door opened and a solemn Marti walked back in. "I wanted to…to apologize," she said stiffly. "I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you guys like that."

"Nah, we deserved it," Casey said lightly.

"Are you gonna tell Mike? About you two?" Marti asked.

"Marti…I know that's the right thing to do, but I think in this case we should just keep it among us. Me and Derek are completely over, we're going to work on building a normal relationship," said Casey.

"Wow," Marti breathed. "I mean it's kind of sad. Forbidden love and all that, and it's not like in the books or movies. You guys do not have the happily ever after."

Derek and Casey smiled at each other, then at Marti. "This _is _the happy ending, Smarti," said Derek. "I'm back to the family, Casey's going to marry a terrific guy, I'll be the cool Uncle Derek. And I'll always be here for you," he added.

It sure as hell wasn't a fairytale, it was pure hard reality, but there was still something beautiful about this moment.

…

**November 12, 2018**

Dressed in a white gown with a long veil atop her updo and a few curls framing her face, Casey was the most beautiful woman Derek had ever seen.

"You may now kiss the bride," the Father instructed the couple at the altar. Michael paused, smiled into Casey's eyes, and kissed her lightly. "I now pronounce you man and wife. Presenting…Mr. and Mrs. Michael DiMartino!"

Cheers rang throughout the church as applause broke out. Nora, Lizzie, and Marti, at the altar as part of the bridal party, wiped tears from their eyes with white handkerchiefs.

Maybe Casey should have been his, thought Derek. But it wasn't meant to be. He'd had closure. Life would go on, he would find another girl to live his life with. He could still be happy. And as he saw Casey's glowing face he knew they had made the best decision.

"…And they all lived, happily ever after," Derek whispered, then rose to go to the reception.

….

_**A/N:**_After way too long this is finally finished! Hahahaha I don't even know if anyone is still reading this. But yeah not exactly a stereotype happy ending but you know what—I'm feeling really frustrating with romance lately so I guess I kind of took it out on my fiction. It's way past time this story ended, so it probably seems a little rushed but hope you guys still had a great time reading it. Thanks a lot!


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